Perfect Vision
by Lethargy
Summary: Once upon a time, Sasuke screwed up. Or rather, life screwed him up, and turned him into a vengeful, arrogant, cold-blooded bastard that ended up betraying friends, killing teachers, and destroying his village. Until Itachi's reset button, at least. [Time Travel!]
1. prologue: peace, denied

_**Perfect Vision**_

**Disclaimer:** Not mine, nor ever shall be.

**Spoilers:** Takes place after chapters 400+, post Itachi vs. Sasuke death-match and eye surgery. That's basically where I stopped reading the manga. AU galore.

-ooo-

**prologue: peace, denied**

Red. It was everything his life had been since the day of the massacre.

Red was blood, dripping scarlet. It spoke of life but tasted of death, it haunted him in nightmares and seared with visions of flaming wheels that turned endlessly without rest. It was a corrosive fire that burned from the inside out, eating away at his sanity even as it fed his lust for power. Sasuke hated red as much as he craved its touch, Sharingan eyes always ready to paint his battles crimson. And everything he laid eyes on shriveled, dying embers that scattered as ashes in the wind.

Red fed his vengeance, and in the end it was the last color he saw before Uzumaki Naruto grabbed him by the face and ripped it from his body.

He hadn't even bothered trying to fight back when his former teammate attacked. Under Sasuke's guidance, Akatsuki (what was left of it, anyways) had single-handedly destroyed Konoha, still weakened from recent attacks and years of continuous invasions. Naruto had come too late to save his precious people, but not too late to stop Sasuke. And he had come with a wave of massive killer intent.

"Bastard," Naruto rasped between hissing breaths that spoke of barely contained rage. "What did you do?"

Sasuke would have shot him a patronizing glare, but settled for a sneer instead. "Still an idiot, aren't you, Naruto?" he paused to wipe away the stream of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, even as more poured from his eye sockets. "You can't see the obvious? And I thought I was the blind one."

Once upon a time, Sasuke screwed up. Or rather, life screwed him up, and turned him into a vengeful, arrogant, cold-blooded bastard that ended up betraying friends, killing teachers, and destroying his village. One could argue that the tragedy that made him an orphan was the root of his instability, but there were plenty of orphans in a shinobi village. One of them was the container of the world's strongest demon.

Then again, that boy had never experienced the pain of losing everything he'd known and loved for all his life. Not until now, when he was old enough to be respected by the village. The Last Uchiha was more than willing to share his pain in spades.

A hand shot out and grabbed Sasuke by the throat, slamming him against a tree. He coughed as the wood splintered behind him, bringing up more red that he could taste but not see. A few moments passed in strained silence before the demon host spoke again, voice eerily calm.

"I'm going to rip you into little pieces and feed them to the fox in hell, Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked.

-ooo-

He lost everything on the day he defeated Itachi. Purpose, meaning, justice—all he'd lived for, just a lie meant for a child who should have died. Slaying the brother who'd shared his blood and haunted his every moment had left him strangely empty inside. Of course, twisted logic then dictated that he should kill the village that made him kill his kin. Revenge upon revenge, red upon red, a murderous, vicious cycle that never seemed to end. He'd been trapped in the curse ever since the night of the massacre and he would follow its lead until the end—of the village, of the Uchihas, of himself.

There was only one person different enough to cut the chains tying him to destruction. An antithesis to his own existence. And as Sasuke laid on the ground, eyes gone, wounds bleeding and body getting colder with every second, he mentally thanked the loudmouthed blond.

"You're even more selfish than I remembered."

Lacking the ability to move, Sasuke's ears strained towards the sound of the voice. Footsteps approached him, then stopped, before a figure crouched by his side.

"You wanted me to end everything with a bang, huh? Fix everything by killing you?" there was a pause, as the figure gnashed its teeth. "Well, what am I supposed to do now, bastard? Who's left to help me with my problems after I help you with yours?"

Sasuke's breath hitched. No way that idiot knew what he'd been planning...

"Dead last..." his voice came out, raw and oddly gurgling. It was getting harder to breathe.

"Selfish bastard," Naruto muttered again, and Sasuke felt a warm glow envelope his wounds. "Stuck-up, arrogant, prick of a Uchiha..."

He fell silent. Sasuke said nothing, partly out of choice, partly because he couldn't form words around the blood pooling in his throat. Naruto was trying to heal him, but he'd never been good with chakra control, much less medical jutsu. He half-wondered when the idiot had bothered to learn—then again, he'd probably did it for the sake of others, after Sasuke had decimated the medic-nin population. That was Naruto for you—always thinking for the sake of others. It was a foreign concept for Sasuke.

"I talked with Itachi, you know. Before he died. It was with one of his shadow clones, but still." Naruto's voice was low. "I told him I was more of a brother to you that he'd ever been. That I'd bring you back home no matter what. That I'd stop you if you ever tried to destroy Konoha."

Between his struggles for air and the haze of pain threatening to overwhelm consciousness, Sasuke barely registered the drops of hot liquid that fell on his face.

"Well...it looks like I failed, huh?" Naruto drew in a shuddering breath. "In the end, everyone still died. And this time Pain's not around to bring them back."

The wounds weren't healing fast enough.

A small part of Sasuke found it ironic that the boy once considered demon incarnate by the village could freely shed tears for his best friend-turned-enemy, while he, the pride of Konoha's Uchiha clan, hadn't felt a twinge of guilt razing the same village to the ground. And in his final moments, he saw clearer than ever how blind he'd been. How utterly blind they'd all been.

He and Konoha alike had been trapped in the past, unable to move forward. From the Nine-tail's attack and the Fourth's death to the Uchiha massacre, they'd crippled themselves hoarding worn grievances and nursing old scars. And in their thirst for vengeance, they had twisted justice to make it suit their own needs. Orochimaru, Danzo, Madara, himself—the motives didn't matter, because in the end they were all bitter souls consumed with rage, who had cut others deeply over self-serving vendettas.

Yet Naruto...he was different. He'd always been unpredictable, loud and obnoxious, stubborn to the point of idiocy...but he'd never lost faith. Faith in his friends, in himself, in the world. And somehow, he'd managed to share that faith with everyone he met. The dead-last gave people the courage to hope, to believe in their dreams—and when they couldn't, or wouldn't, he'd always find a way to make their dreams reality. On his shoulders, Uzumaki Naruto carried promises of a lifetime, a resolution to never back down, and Konoha's Will of Fire.

He saw what needed to be done and did it, because he believed in the future.

Naruto was one who read his fate, accepted it, and moved past it to create new paths. Sasuke had choked himself with fate's obligations and ended up in its death grip.

Faintly, he heard the blond demanding to know why he'd just stood there, why he'd let the blond beat him to a pulp, why he hadn't even tried defending. But his voice was so far away...

"Don't die, you bastard! I'm not finished yet! Don't you dare!"

_'Idiot, don't talk so much when you're trying to heal someone.'_ Sasuke felt his body jerk as a sudden jolt of chakra pulsed through his system. It took him a second to process that this wasn't ordinary healing chakra, but Nine-tails chakra-raw power that liquefied his veins and screamed pure **CRIMSON-**

The pain. By Kami, the _pain—_he felt like his skin was peeling off—no, it had to be because—

**—RAGEHATEINSANITY—**

—everything was ripping apart, tearing his body to shreds and tatters—

**—KILLHURTDESTROY—**

—and bloody fingers scrabbled wildly for purchase as his body spasmed against the dirt, clawing at air in pure agony—

**—BLOODCAGEDARKNESS—**

—he was going to be burned alive from the inside out—

**—DEATHPAINDESTRUCTIONEND—**

His body was already dead by the time the crows appeared.

-ooo-

It was quiet, and the pain was gone.

That was the first thing he noticed. The second was the fact that he was floating in a pool of water-as much as he could guess. For some reason, his arms were stuck to his sides and his eyelids were squeezed shut, but the coolness cushioning his body and dripping noises in the background fed his suspicions. He half-wondered how he was staying afloat so stiffly when he wasn't using any chakra, but knowing he could (somehow) breathe properly again was infinitely more satisfying.

"Sasuke."

His eyes flew open at the voice, only to stare up at a high, pebbled ceiling covered in glistening droplets. He seemed to be in a cave of some sort, but it was brightly lit. The clarity of his vision was astounding, and he inhaled sharply as a stray drop splashed onto his nose. Didn't Naruto gouge out his eyes already? Sasuke tried to move—to sit up and touch his eyes, or reach for the chokuto he always kept on hand. Nothing happened. His body wouldn't listen.

"Sasuke."

Maybe he was being held with a paralysis jutsu. He tried to disrupt it with chakra, but realized with a start he couldn't feel any in his system. A genjutsu? He bit hard enough to draw blood, but nothing changed. _'What the heck?'_

"Sasuke. Look this way."

He turned right and blinked at what he saw. Then he blinked again, just to make sure. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

A figure stood on the water a few feet away, hands at his sides. He was pale-skinned and dark-haired, unassuming but for the scarlet clouds on his cloak.

"Who-no, what are you?" Sasuke snarled. "I killed you! I saw you die with my own eyes—your body and you...you can't be—_you shouldn't be here!_" He struggled, but his body remained immobile.

"Do you understand your current situation?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I understand that I can't move."

"Not surprising, considering that you have effectively expired."

The younger Uchiha drew in a hissing breath. "Explain."

"The infusion of Nine-tails chakra was sudden and unexpected. Your system rejected it, leading to a chakra recoil that sent you into massive shock on account of preexisting injuries. The result was fatal."

"So I died." Sasuke finished. It was inevitable, considering the damage he'd taken. _'But...'_ "That doesn't explain this." He glanced at his useless limbs. "Or you."

"The body you inhabit now is merely an illusion, created by your own mind." Itachi said tonelessly. "I myself am a chakra construct, implanted into Uzumaki Naruto. This form you see is a physical manifestation of my existence, and unaffected by time space. Your consciousness was not damaged by the demon, so it was simple enough to pull you here."

_'Pulling my mind out of my own body...is that even possible? Unless it was some sort of sealing technique, or a forbidden jutsu...'_ The gears were turning in Sasuke's head. "Chakra construct...implanted...?"

His older brother let out a slow breath. "Needless to say, one of my clones...chatted with Naruto some time ago. I infused him with a portion of my power as a precaution, set to react whenever the demon chakra grew out of control. You'll recall I did something similar with you, little brother."

Sasuke flinched, muscles twitching as he remembered the Amaterasu he'd used on Madara. Then he grit his teeth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"If you mean what Madara told you, then I believe the man has explained my reasons sufficiently." There was no change in Itachi's monotone.

"It doesn't matter what he says!" Sasuke snapped. "I want to hear it from you!"

"There is nothing to discuss."

His younger brother cursed. "I've destroyed Konoha trying to find the answers, and now that you're here, I want them." As if in response to his anger, the cavern gave a low rumble, sending a rain of droplets into the pool.

Itachi's eyes flickered to the ceiling, and Sasuke noticed that the irises were black. Black like the days before the massacre, like the moment he fell in their final battle—

He ruthlessly crushed that train of thought as Itachi looked back. "There isn't much time."

Sasuke ignored him. "Nine years, Itachi. I've been living a lie ever since I was eight, all to kill a man I thought was a cold-blooded murderer. To kill my only brother." The walls around them trembled.

"It was the only way."

"I don't believe you."

"The Council's orders—"

"The Council is filled with cowards. I've seen proof of that myself." The spineless old geezers had tried to talk him into negotiating peace treaties countless times—offering everything from the village coffers to their own wives and children. As if that could make up for years of complete ineptitude. It disgusted him to remember.

"As have I," Itachi murmured as the cavern shook again. "But the Council's orders were only part of the problem. The Uchiha Massacre was a deal made between Madara and myself."

Sasuke paused. "What are you talking about?" Madara made it clear that it was the Council who ordered the killings—and he had personally verified those claims before burning Konoha to ashes.

"Our family history is not a proud one, Sasuke." Itachi said, voice clear and steady even as the tremors intensified. "Before Konoha's founding, Madara was exiled from the Uchiha. Seventeen years ago, he sought revenge by unleashing the Nine-tails, causing the death of the Fourth. While he failed, he has never stopping trying to destroy the village." He paused as a dull roar echoed through the cave, sending bits of debris from the ceiling.

"Pride and arrogance have always been the downfall of our clan," the missing-nin continued. "Father was intent on strengthening our presence within Konoha, and many on the Council resented him for it. His plan for a coup would have resulted in countless innocent deaths. And thus the massacre was necessary."

"Necessary?" Sasuke felt anger rising. "What about our relatives? The cousins who were younger than me?" The people he'd grown up with in his childhood hadn't deserved to die. "They were civilians. They didn't know anything!" A large chunk of the ceiling crashed into the pool, splashing water over Sasuke. He ignored it.

"On that night, Madara gave me a choice between Konoha and the clan," Itachi continued as more rocks fell around them. "I chose the latter."

"Why?"

"The Fourth gave his life for peace. I was willing to at least as much."

"By killing the Uchiha?"

"If that is what it takes."

"Then why didn't you kill me too?" It was the one question he'd always asked himself.

Itachi shook his head. "The sins of the past are for me to carry alone. You killing me paved the path for a future Uchiha worthy of Konoha."

"Is that what you think?" A bitter laugh escaped from Sasuke's throat. "Konoha's gone, brother. As is everyone else. The future doesn't exist anymore."

The disturbance had been building to a crescendo. With a crack, the ceiling split in two, revealing a crimson sky. There was an inhuman screech of triumph before a monstrous claw of chakra dived towards Sasuke, intent on crushing the impudent maggot that dared to intrude upon its realm.

But it never found its mark. Moments later, Sasuke found himself staring at a delicate pattern of needlework clouds as Itachi's cloak fluttered inches from his face. His brother stood over him, one arm blocking the twitching claw while his left hand ran through a series of one-handed seals at a blinding rate. When finished, he planted his palm against the monstrosity, ignoring the sizzling as his body began to pulse with blue chakra.

"...what did you do?" Sasuke demanded. The cavern had stopped shaking, and everything-from the water to the walls-was glowing. The claw shuddered and tried to pull back. It was stuck fast.

"This was a final backup against Madara," Itachi said. "It is meant to trap his consciousness, then destroy it with help from the demon chakra."

An angry scream tore through the walls, and Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw multiple claws form and dive towards Itachi. With a sudden flash, the entire cavern glowed blue—and the claws recoiled. Violently.

"By connecting my will to the Nine-tails, I am able to control some of its powers," Itachi continued. "That's enough to get you out of here."

"Don't bother. I'm dead either way."

"No. I am sending you back."

"Back to my body? So I can choke to death on my own blood?" the younger Uchiha smiled bitterly. "It's not much of an improvement."

Itachi turned. Two pairs of dark eyes bore into each other. "I didn't let you die the first time, Sasuke." The cavern glowed brighter as he reached out with his right hand.

"I won't let you die now."

And he slammed a fist through Sasuke's chest as everything exploded in a shower of sparks.

-ooo-

**A/N:** Just a heads up, I am a AGONIZINGLY SLOW UPDATER _(think months...or years...)_ who's more in love with Real Life than fanfiction. I'm writing this as something in my (very limited) spare time, so if you don't like living off cliffhangers, avoid this story at all costs. Also, if any typos/minor mistakes bug you, feel free to point them out, but I won't re-upload an entire chapter for little errors unless I have time. Thanks again.


	2. eyes, opened

_**Perfect Vision**_

**Disclaimer:** Bread is to soup as fanfiction is to canon, filling in themselves, but delicious combined.

-ooo-

**chapter 01: eyes, opened**

'D*mmit, Itachi!' Sasuke cursed mentally as he suddenly sat up.

If he was a vengeful bastard, then his brother was a manipulative jerk and Sasuke was going to kill him (no matter that he did already and only because Mr. I-Know-Better-Than-You was goading him on for years). Arms finally free, he reached for his chokuto...and grabbed a handful of crumpled bedsheets.

_'What the...'_

"So you're finally awake." A voice spoke.

Now a brown-haired woman appeared by his side, easing him down to snow-white sheets and a striped pillow. He shrank from the contact before looking at her (and he could see her quite clearly, he noted), confused.

"Your body is still weak," she explained. "You should lie down and rest."

"I'm not dead?" Sasuke blurted the first thought that popped into his head.

"No. You're in Konoha General Hospital," the woman said, her expression unreadable . "Don't worry, someone will come to explain everything shortly."

That only further confused Sasuke, because he was sure he'd burned down the hospital when he destroyed Konoha. His eyes took in the spotless floors, the white ceiling, the crisp uniform of the nurse...all perfectly clean and intact.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke-kun? Any pain?"

Sasuke shot her an odd look. If his battles with the Leaf ninja were any indication, Konoha hated his guts for being a traitor. This medic obviously knew who he was, so to be addressed with such courtesy seemed out of place. He would have expected the village to lock him in a cell to rot to death.

"I'm fine." he replied, and coughed. Either his ears needed fixing, or his voice was having problems. He was practically squeaking. "Is there...water?"

"Certainly," the nurse smiled and went to pour him a glass. "Here you go. Drink slowly."

Sasuke reached for the glass and suddenly froze. With a sharp breath, he pulled his hands back for scrutiny, eyes taking in every detail of the white, nearly flawless skin.

He didn't have hands like that. Years of practicing and perfecting his skills had charred and burned them, so that the palms and fingers were permanently marred with scars. Karin used to never stop fussing every time she treated his wounds, scolding him for not treating his hands better. He couldn't have cared less, being more focused on mastering jutsu.

These were the hands of a stranger. The hands...of a _child_.

"...Sasuke-kun? Is everything all right?"

He scowled. The nurse sounded just like Karin too.

Ignoring her, he grabbed the glass with more confidence than he felt and downed a big, messy gulp, marginally aware of the pain it caused him to swallow. ("Ah! I said to drink it _slowly_!")

"I'm fine," he said dismissively, licking dry lips. "Who fixed my eyes?"

"Excuse me?"

"My injuries," Sasuke amended, glancing at the nurse as unease stirred within him. "If you're my nurse, you should know what they were." This whole situation felt off, but he couldn't figure out why, and it was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Well," the nurse said carefully. "Besides a few bruises here and there, you were brought in uninjured. Are your eyes bothering you in any way?"

"No."

_'Yes they are, because last I checked I didn't have any left.'_ He needed more information.

"Who brought me in?"

"One of the village ninja."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow._ 'That doesn't tell me anything.'_

"Which one?" There weren't many left after the last attack on the village. Did Naruto do it?

"I wasn't there to see," the nurse replied. "Done with your water?"

He nodded gruffly.

"All right. Let me take your cup." Sasuke complied, but caught his reflection as light bounced off the glass.

His grip tightened as he stared in disbelief.

"Sasuke-kun, you can let go now..."

He was seeing things. He had to be. Otherwise, the only other explanation...

_("I am sending you back.")_

Sasuke took in a deep, shuddering breath as his body shook with the implications—

No, this couldn't be...by Kami, it shouldn't even be possible...

"What are you...!" the nurse gasped as Sasuke threw the glass into her hands, spilling water everywhere. Before she could react, he was off the bed and half running, half stumbling towards the door, fueled by a growing sense of panic.

"Stop!"

His senses alerted him to the projectiles seconds before he ordered himself to dodge—and he used conscious effort to roll away, because his body wasn't responding as fast it should have been. The objects embedded into the floor and Sasuke grimaced as he counted five senbon needles.

"Please, Sasuke-kun," the nurse turned ninja said from a few feet away. "You must calm down."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, noting how the subtle movement caused the woman to immediately tense. His back was towards the door, but proximity allowed him to sense what he couldn't before: invisible chakra seals, pulsing faintly beneath the woodwork. He quickly scanned the room—no windows in sight. The young Uchiha frowned, realizing he'd been locked in from the start. Disorientation had made him miss vital clues in the surroundings.

_'Breathe, you idiot. Don't act like a fool.'_

He forced himself to weigh his options. He was in strange territory under unfamiliar circumstances, injuries mysteriously healed. Dangerous or not, the medic-nin wasn't attacking him now, and he needed answers before he could escape from this farce of Konoha.

With that in mind, he halted the chakra gathering (more sluggishly that usual) in his palm, relaxing enough to casually pluck a needle from the ground. Twirling it between his fingers (all while ignoring his unnaturally smooth hands), he changed to sitting crossed-legged on the floor.

"Since when do nurses attack their patients?" Sasuke said with a glare. "Or..." he added, "Is it just Konohagakure that's different?"

_'Is it just Konohagakure that orders a child to massacre his whole clan for the good of the village?'_

"Forgive me," the medic-nin said. "But I have orders to keep you here from the Hokage himself."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And which Hokage would that be?"

_Click._

Behind him, the doorknob turned, releasing a swell of chakra that unlocked the seals with a gentle sigh. Sasuke spun in time to see a figure enter, dressed in flowing robes and a tall, pointed hat.

His hold on the needle faltered, and it fell to the floor with a soft clink.

"I believe," the figure spoke as it bent over him with a weary smile. "I heard someone asking for me?"

Sasuke bit until he drew blood, but everything remained achingly, crystal clear.

It was the Sandaime.

-ooo-

He was eight years old again and the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre. Either this was the most elaborate genjutsu he'd ever experienced or some twisted form of purgatory, because Sasuke couldn't accept it as reality. And as he listened to a living, breathing Hiruzen Sarutobi regretfully break the news to his younger self, he half-toyed with the idea of destroying something—_anything_—to shatter the illusion.

Yet part of him hesitated, held back by old regrets and a pathetic kind of yearning to believe...to trust in the impossible as his idiot teammate would have done. There were so many things that had gone wrong and so much more that could have gone better if only he had the foresight.

Well, now he was foresight.

The Sandaime was asking him questions. He'd convinced Sasuke to return to bed, then sat in a chair while the nurse stood watch. Sasuke paused. The Hokage would probably use his answers to gauge his mental stability—few survived the tortures of the Mangekyo Sharingan intact, especially when the victim was still (by all appearances) a child. He swallowed a snarl at the memory of Itachi.

The first time around, he'd declared his thirst for vengeance and vowed to kill his brother to restore the honor of the Uchiha clan. The Sandaime had said nothing, only ordered that he be looked after, and returned a few days later to help him settle accounts as heir to the clan estates. The old Sasuke returned to the academy soon after, establishing a reputation as a loner and genius that easily became head of the class in his quest for revenge. But he'd gotten payback once, and it had led to more ruin. It felt unnecessary to repeat history.

_'I'm sick and tired of being manipulated.'_

"...do you remember anything from that night, Sasuke-kun?"

"No." Sasuke snapped. "And I'm not sure if I want to try."

Behind the Hokage, the medic-nin bristled at the lack of respect, but Sasuke could have cared less. He rarely used honorifics outside the clan—blame Uchiha arrogance for that (it was in the blood).

The older man heaved a long sigh. "Is that so?"

When Sasuke lowered his chin, Sarutobi leaned back and closed his eyes. "Well, well. Perhaps it is for the best."

"One question—" Sasuke started, before catching the medic-nin's pointed look. "...Hokage-sama."

The latter gestured for him to continue. "Go on."

Black eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "You said that my brother was the one who massa—who killed the clan."

"That is true." Sarutobi nodded.

"Did he do it by choice...or because he had to?"

"What do you mean?" Sharp eyes peered at him from half-opened eyelids.

Sasuke briefly wondered how much the Third really knew about Itachi before deciding to push as far as he dared.

"My brother," he said slowly, "Hated fighting."

_'Was a pacifist,'_ memory added as fists clenched unconsciously.

"He wouldn't kill without reason."

"Do you truly believe that, Sasuke-kun?" the Hokage asked.

His reply was an unwavering stare.

"Good." the old man said, to Sasuke's surprise. "Your convictions are strong. You'll be out of the hospital in no time with that spirit." He rose from his seat.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I doubt the answer would change your mind. Now then," Sarutobi smiled affably. "It is late, and you are still recovering. I will be back again tomorrow." the old man glanced at the nurse.

"Mori-san, come with me. We should give our patient time to rest." He exited with the woman, seals reforming afterwards to lock in a brooding boy.

-ooo-

Only after they left the hospital did Sarutobi stop to face his subordinate.

"Report," he said simply, taking out his pipe.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the nurse named Mori-san nodded, before disappearing in a poof of smoke. Moments later, Morino Ibiki stepped out from the haze, expression clouded in thought.

"What is your assessment of Uchiha Sasuke?" the Sandaime asked, puffing on his pipe.

Ibiki shook his head. "Hard to say, Hokage-sama. The usual reactions after witnessing a traumatic event should be shock and denial—followed by anger or grief. But the young Uchiha seems to show none of these. If anything, he appears to have accepted events already, albeit bitterly."

"Indeed," the Hokage nodded. "He's believed everything we've told him without question, and all with a level of maturity commendable for his age." It was hard to believe the boy was only eight—he'd understood the explanations so well that the Sandaime had spoke to him as an equal.

"The only thing that troubles me is his preoccupation with Uchiha Itachi..." Ibiki trailed off. "I suspect the boy remembers more than he tells us."

"Perhaps that is his way of dealing with the tragedy," the Third remarked. "I don't wish to push him any further than necessary, Ibiki."

"But Hokage-sama, there are still unknown factors surrounding the night of the massacre," Ibiki protested. "If we were to press further, we could get a clearer picture—"

"He is a child, Ibiki. A new orphan, at that."

"He is still a shinobi of Konoha, and bound by law to protect this village. If he is withholding vital information—"

"He will not be a shinobi until he officially graduates from the ninja academy," Sarutobi said. "By current standards, he is still a Konoha civilian, and _we_ are duty-bound to protect _him_. Now, is there any reason at this time for you to suspect Uchiha Sasuke as a threat to the safety of this village?"

Ibiki paused for a second before relenting. "No, Hokage-sama."

"Then your mission is complete." the old man put a hand on the shoulder of the scarred war veteran. "Let me handle the rest."

Ibiki bowed low, accepting his dismissal before vanishing in a poof.

Left alone, Sarutobi began strolling reflectively towards the Hokage Tower, hands behind his back and his pipe in his mouth. Danzo and the Council had moved far quicker than he'd anticipated, completing the annihilation of one of Konoha's most formidable clans in the course of a fore-night. It was all for the safety of the village, they claimed. The Uchiha were getting too powerful and restless—even he'd agreed with them on that point. Itachi's reports had been grim, clearly outlining the clan's intents to provoke a coup. Extreme measures had to be taken be prevent an escalation...

_'Yet once again, Konoha left a child to bear the burden alone.'_ the Sandaime thought with regret as he gazed at the horizon.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was setting, blazing rays of scarlet fire against the darkening skies. Sarutobi released a long puff from his pipe, watching as the smoke trailed up to the clouds. An ordinary moment in an ordinary day, but for the awakening of the last Uchiha heir. And he prayed that it was not an awakening that would curse the village as his forefathers had done.

-ooo-

Two days later, Konoha General Hospital recorded the release of another patient in its archives. Sasuke brought little with him on the trip home—only a couple of academy-grade kunai and a holster that had been on him when he was admitted. He was wearing his own clothes (freshly washed), feeling oddly nostalgic in the white shorts, blue shirt and sandals. An ANBU had been sent to accompany him, a silent guard that asked no questions nor gave any answers, but stopped as soon as they'd reached the Uchiha Compound, indicating that Sasuke was to go on alone.

It made sense, because the compound was protected with all sorts of complex seals and security measures designed to keep prying eyes away from the clan's homes, sanctums, and secrets. Still, as Sasuke locked the gates behind him, he half-wondered who had managed to get the clearance to clean up the mess inside before he arrived. Kakashi, probably—he would have been the only one with a working Sharingan, and that was key in deactivating many of the built-in systems.

The cleaning crews, whoever they'd been, had done a spotless job. There wasn't a speck of blood to be seen anywhere. In fact, they had been so thorough that the entire compound felt like a hospital morgue, too neat and lifeless for a ghost town.

He walked through the empty streets, recalling a lost past. The first time around, he'd been in too much of a hurry to pay attention, intent on finding the secret room that Itachi had told him about. Now, reserve overtook impatience, and he let his thoughts wander, feet taking him where they willed.

There had been no funeral, for the simple fact that there were too many bodies and too little time. He was part of a shinobi family, and shinobi were expected to grieve quickly and move on. Death was commonplace. During his coma, the Council took matters into their own hands. Nearly all of the corpses had been cremated—either to protect the secrets of the Sharingan or because there hadn't been much left to bury. They called it the Uchiha Massacre for a reason, and despite his professionalism, Itachi had not been merciful with his kills. To their credit, the village elders had made memorial tablets for Sasuke's parents and placed them in a family shrine, the one place he avoided religiously.

As for the Sandaime, he had appeared again as promised, with Ibiki Morino of all people. The old man had dodged all attempts to question him, forcing a fuming Sasuke to listen as Ibiki explained his entitlements as the last lawfully living Uchiha in Konoha. It was the same information as the first time around, though the scar-faced interrogator hadn't been present before. An interesting detail to file away for later.

He'd ended the explanations by handing the younger boy a pen to sign for his claims. The man's tone was neutral, but his eyes had been coldly calculating, though Sasuke didn't respond with anything more than a noncommittal 'Hn'.

In the present, Sasuke paused before one of the buildings, seeing the familiar exterior of a dojo.

The genin-to-be cracked his knuckles before stepping in. Well, now was a good time as any to test his skills. He had four years to go before graduation, after all.

-ooo-

Hours later, drenched in sweat and lying on the ground, Sasuke came to a conclusion:

He sucked.

Not completely, of course—he still had his old memories, and with them, his previous knowledge of various jutsu. But what was the use of knowledge if you couldn't use it? Without a contract, he had no way of calling on summons in battle. His taijutsu had gone down the drain, limbs lacking the muscle memory and physical stamina of his previous body. Hospitalization hadn't helped matters. His genjutsu options were limited because he wasn't idiotic enough to parade around the Sharingan(1) this early in the time line. As for his ninjutsu...well, trying to form a Chidori now would probably land him in the hospital with severe chakra exhaustion. His body didn't have time to build up its reserves yet.

At least he still had his Great Fireball Technique. He supposed that counted for something as a eight-year-old.

With a grunt, he pushed himself off the floor and sat up, stomach growling in the process. Ah well, he'd just dig out a ration bar from his pack and—

Oh, right. He was in Konoha. Itachi killed the clan a few weeks ago, so no one was left to look after the food supplies. Most of them had gone bad, and he wasn't in a mood to cook up dinner with frozen leftovers.

Muttering darkly, Sasuke went to hunt for his wallet.

-ooo-

Sasuke wasn't sentimental (maybe emotionally scarred and obsessed with vengeance, but sentimental? never), yet he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss Konoha food after his defection. Orochimaru was a master at collecting ninjutsu and calling ninja to do his bidding—finding ones that could actually cook was another matter, too trivial in the plans for immortality and world domination.

It was approaching lunchtime on a bright day and the streets were filled with hungry people. As a child, he blended easily into the crowd, hands thrust in his pockets as he strolled through clouds of tantalizing vapors and amiable chatter. He never used to eat out if he could avoid it, finding the prices extravagant and the company insufferable. Living alone had accustomed him to loneliness and silence; stepping outside the gates of the compound was a slap to the face that reminded him constantly of everything he had lost.

And besides, the menus didn't have enough tomatoes.

He walked past stalls and establishments, senses absorbing the sights and sounds of a Konoha revived. The Uchihas had preferred keeping to themselves despite being Konoha's official police force—they practically ran their own village within the compound walls. So it was that, lack of patrol officers aside, the majority of village life went undisturbed.

Any lingering feelings of shock and horror over the recent tragedy had faded with time, and the people were content, the atmosphere relaxed. After all, _their_ family members hadn't been massacred, and selfish as it sounded, they were happy. A happiness he had trashed as weakness to fill the emptiness of his own heart.

Gradually, the talking died down and the crowds thinned—he was approaching the last of the food stands. And as he continued walking, the faces he saw grew sober and more serious, even angry. It didn't take long to figure out why.

"All right! More bowls, old man!"

"Hey, you sure you can eat that much, kid?"

"Heh. 'Course I can! Ramen's the best!"

A short, spiky-haired blond child was sitting on a barstool of a certain ramen stand, finishing up his fourth bowl of noodles and still going strong. Despite the lunch hour, most of the villagers were giving a wide berth to Ichiraku Ramen, furtive glances and whispers confirming what Sasuke already suspected.

Uzumaki Naruto, demon host and outcast of Konoha.

He stopped walking to look. The dobe was dressed in a spiral-motif T-shirt and shorts (orange ones, he noted wryly) that showed knobby knees and bony elbows. His hair was in its usual messy state, and the large grin plastered on his face accentuated the whisker marks on his cheeks.

Same yet not the same. Seeing a younger Naruto of all people, in this time...it was surreal. Memories flooded back unbidden, things he didn't want to remember, not yet, not here, not now...

_'Stop.'_

With a will of steel, he forced the unwanted thoughts to a corner and walked forward.

-ooo-

Naruto didn't even bother looking up when someone slid into the seat next to him, too busy inhaling his food. Who knew that Konoha sold fresh ramen? Ichiraku Ramen was a godsend! He finished his fourth bowl and was reaching for the fifth when a pair of chopsticks rapped him sharply on the knuckles.

"Ow!" the blond drew his hands back, looking incredulously at the offender. "What was that for?"

"That's my order," replied a dark-haired boy as he claimed his meal.

"He's right, brat," Teuchi said with a chuckle as he arrived with another bowl. "Here's yours: steaming hot pork miso straight from the pot."

"Oh. Whoops." Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks, old man." A few seconds more and he was a goner, lost in the oblivion that was ramen nirvana.

-ooo-

Six bowls and an emptied Gama-chan later, Naruto patted his bloated stomach with satisfaction.

"Now that hit the spot," he grinned to himself, admiring the towering stack of porcelain. Beside him, there was a soft click as someone placed a pair of chopsticks on the counter.

"_Gochisosama_(2)," a voice said quietly, and Naruto turned to survey his neighbor with interest. Spiky black hair. Pale white skin. Now where had he seen those before?

"Hey, do I know you?" he asked, squinting. The boy turned, and Naruto felt himself squirm beneath the scrutiny of cool dark irises. "What? Stop looking at me like that!"

Without bothering to reply, the boy calmly took out his wallet and paid for his ramen. Then he hopped off the barstool and walked away, raising a hand over his shoulder.

"Later, Uzumaki."

All right, now Naruto was really confused. He'd seen plenty of kids in the academy, but none of them fit the description of this weirdo who knew his name. But even as he leaned forward, demanding an explanation, a pair of men walked by, blocking his view. By the time they passed, the boy was gone.

"...huh?"

He jumped off his seat, scanning furiously for white shorts and a blue shirt (it had that funny fan symbol he used to see around the village all the time)—nothing, as if the boy had never existed.

It was a puzzle, and when Uzumaki Naruto couldn't figure one out, he ignored it.

"Ah, whatever! I'm gonna go do some training!"

-ooo-

From his perch in a tree, Sasuke watched as the blond sauntered off, hands folded behind his head. Eight, twelve, or seventeen years old, some things about Naruto never changed. He broke off a twig and flicked it at the mop of yellow hair.

As Naruto grabbed his ear and started hopping around like an angry grasshopper, Sasuke decided that his aim needed work.

His first thought after that was to go home and practice in private, but that meant navigating through the crowds again. It'd been easy to think of them as background noise, but seeing a younger Naruto in the flesh had jolted him to the fact that this was reality now. Facing the crowd, recognizing younger versions of faces that would be nothing more than corpses in his memory—it was a disturbing prospect. Heck, Sasuke's childhood memories of the loudmouthed blond had never been this clear, and the last time he'd seen him...

_("I'm going to rip you into little pieces and feed them to the fox in hell, Uchiha.")_

Sasuke shut his eyes with a frown. He had nothing against this Naruto, but seeing him was bound to turn up unpleasant memories of his future counterpart.

_("Well, what am I supposed to do now, bastard? Who's left to help me with my problems after I help you with yours?")_

Black eyes sprang open as he muttered an oath. By Kami, he was an idiot. Here he had the unbelievable chance to start over and change everything, and he was busy worrying about stupid things that hadn't happened yet—things that would never happen, if he changed them.

He swung himself off the tree and starting walking at a brisk pace. Plans and ideas swirled in his head in a frenzy—things to do, places to be—and histories to fix.

He couldn't to do it alone, Sasuke mused. But he couldn't start sprouting doomsday prophecies either. No adult would give credit to the words of an eight-year-old, much less one who had his mind tortured to the limits before succumbing to coma. Then again, most of the adults he knew had been pretty dense. Yes, they were great ninja and experts in their fields, but otherwise speaking...

Kakashi had narrowed his focus onto one student and completely forgot about the concept of 'teamwork' he'd preached so religiously, Kabuto was a traitorous double agent with an unhealthy obsession for cutting things open, and Orochimaru was the textbook definition of lunatic.

He didn't bother counting Madara or Itachi, because the last thing he wanted to admit was the possibility of idiocy running in the family.

"Oi, brat, git outta the way."

Sasuke looked up, but the voice wasn't directed at him. Ahead was a weapons shop, and the owner was standing by the door with a broom, waving it furiously at a familiar figure.

"Hey! I said I'd pay, didn't I?" Naruto complained as he nimbly sidestepped the wooden bristles. "I put the money on the counter already, so give me my kunai!"

"My shop ain't caterin' to the likes of ya, so scram!"

"Eh? How come? That's not fair!"

"It's my shop and I do what I want with it."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm not leaving without them!" And Naruto made a dash for the door, only to be rebutted by a harsh thwack. As the boy fell to the ground, the shopkeeper hastily retreated, closing the doors behind him with a loud bang.

Moments later, the door opened again and a crumpled wad of bills sailed out to bounce off the boy's forehead.

"Ya can take yer business elsewhere!"

Sasuke watched as Naruto scrambled to his feet, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Fine then! I'll just buy 'em somewhere else, you hear? And I'll never come here again, not even for a single thing! You can go broke for all I care!"

Then the demon vessel picked up his money and stomped off, not even bothering to dust off his clothes.

Sasuke waited until the blond was out of sight, then approached the weapons store. He peered through the doors and saw the owner busy wiping the counter with disinfectant. A holster of kunai laid to one side, untouched. Shelves of shuriken littered the floor, while sharp, pointy objects plastered the walls. The store had no windows.

Yep, his eyesight was much better before the the whole Itachi obsession.

He entered and casually walked up to the register, waiting for the owner to notice him. The man was around middle-age, balding and overweight, with a sour expression twisting his features.

"Whaddya want?" he growled without looking up.

"I'll take this," Sasuke said, putting his hand on the kunai. He noted the blunted tips, dulled down especially for academy students. "How much?"

Small, beady eyes scanned the weapons and calculated the price before they saw Sasuke and did a double-take.

"_You-!_ Yer from dat...I mean, yer dat..."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, if that's what you're trying to say,"

"Eh—yes. Yes, of course! Didn't mean ta offend there," the shopkeeper gave an embarrassed cough as he scratched the back of his head. "Right then, Sasuke-kun. Ya wanted those kunai? Lemme getch ya a bettuh set. This'll be on the house."

Che. Preferential treatment, huh?

"This set is fine," Sasuke intoned, taking the weapons before the man could touch them. "I'm surprised, though. I heard this shop doesn't cater to orphans."

"Now who said a ridiculous thing like that?" the man scoffed. "Tell ya what! Ya ever need anything, you come 'ere and I'll give ya a discount. How's it sound?"

"Generous." _'You hypocrite.'_ Sasuke's tone was flat as he tested one of the kunai. "You said you were giving these away?"

The man's chest seemed to puff up at the words. "Sure did! It's 'ah personal special. Yer in da ninja academy, ain'tcha? Gunna need some fine weapons ta be top 'ah da class.

"Nice of you to care." Sasuke droned.

"Well, yer a smart kid," the shopkeeper said in a low tone, as if sharing some great secret. "Talkin' real proper—like an' all dat. Polite, too. Plus, seein' as how recen' events..." The man coughed. "Ya deserve this." He bent down to grab a paper bag for the weapons, only to meet the boy's frown as he straightened up.

"That forehead protector..." Sasuke was pointing to a section of wall directly behind the shopkeeper. "You're a Konoha ninja?"

The man glanced behind him, seeing the worn headband pinned to the wall and surrounded by models of short-swords. "Heh, back in the day. Nevuh made it past genin, but nevuh retired, neith'r."

_'And so not a civilian.'_ "I see." Sasuke said as he accepted the bag. "Thanks for telling me."

"Ya ever need pointers fo' da gradu'ting exam, I can give ya tips," the man offered. "Sasuke-kun, was it? Jes' drop by anytime."

Sasuke locked eyes with the man and smiled thinly. "Don't call me _'Sasuke-kun'_."

-ooo-

Five minutes later, Uchiha Sasuke staggered out of the windowless shop, holding a paper bag. He paused on the doorstep, as if getting his bearings, before turning towards Konoha Ninja Academy. A figure in the trees watched carefully before following suit.

Five hours later, the wife of the shop owner stormed into the store with her apron on, demanding to know why he was late for dinner. Needless to say, she was shocked to find him sprawled in a heap on the ground, drooling and unconscious. Her first guess was that he'd been drinking on the job again, even though there was no _sake_ bottle in sight, and so she did the natural thing: whack him with her frying pan.

When he woke up yelling and started attacking her with a stray shuriken, she was convinced he was drunk off his head and soundly boxed his ears.

"Ya don't understand!" the man cried hoarsely. "There were kunai! 'undreds of them, all a'tryin' ta stab me to death! I had 'ta defend mahself!"

"You old fool! You've been drinkin' and dreamin' up ninja tales again, haven't you?" the wife screeched. "Didn't I tell you to stop?"

"I wasn't dreamin'! And I'll have ya know I'm still ah cer-ti-fee-ied Konoha genin!"

"Well, Mister 'Certified Genin', you can eat your dinner cold, with the waitin' I had to do!" Ignoring further protests, she grabbed a ear and started dragging him home.

-ooo-

Sasuke was tripping over his own feet as he walked down the street.

_'That was stupid.'_

While staring at the shopkeeper, he'd started fantasizing ways to cut his face apart. Sasuke hadn't realized he'd subconsciouly activated Sharingan until he felt chakra burning through his eyes. It'd taken mere seconds to cancel the genjutsu, but by then the man had already collapsed from the mental strain and the boy was gasping from the effort.

_'My reserves are pathetic right now.'_

He'd caught his reflection in the counter and scowled as the telltale crimson of Sharingan faded away. Wouldn't that raise some nice questions with the Hokage?

After checking to make sure the man was alive—vitals steady, breathing normal—Sasuke had made a hasty exit. There shouldn't be any lasting mental damage, so the guy would wake up in a few hours, and he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention.

At least Konoha was still standing. He'd never heard of ninja casting illusions within an illusion without screwing something up. It was another small proof that this world wasn't a genjutsu.

Just how had Itachi managed to send him back?

_'Looks like I'll need to reread those clan scrolls,'_ Sasuke immediately thought of the Uchiha's underground lair. Something crinkled, and he glanced down, realizing he'd tightened his grip on the paper bag.

The bag holding the practice kunai he'd bought from the shopkeeper, the ones he'd meant to get for target practice.

"Hn." He gazed at the package thoughtfully as an idea formed.

Time-travel paradoxes could wait. He had another target to track down.

-ooo-

Said target was hanging around the academy grounds. It was a Sunday, so there were no classes, and school was deserted. Sasuke stood behind a tree to watch as Naruto...threw rocks at the targets on trees. And missed. Horribly.

He waited a bit longer before impatience overtook him. Slowly, he bent down to pick up a tiny pebble by his foot. Then he carefully aimed for the painted bull's eye before flicking it off.

_Ping!_

It hit near the center before bouncing off. Not perfect, but definitely better than this afternoon.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked, before spinning around to see Sasuke. "What the...? It's _YOU_ again?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the outburst.

"Who are you?" A few leaps later and the other boy was standing before him, eyes squinting. "How'd you know my name? Are you following me?"

Now Sasuke was frowning. True, he'd never interacted much with Naruto in the academy, but for him to completely forget him was...surprising at best, insulting at worst. They were in the same class, and he'd only been absent for a couple weeks.

"What do you think?" he asked.

That threw the blond off-balance. "How should I know?"

"Che. If you can't figure it out yourself," Sasuke said, unwrapping the paper bag while Naruto shouted questions and hopped back and forth. "Don't expect me to tell you."

As Naruto was about to demand more explanations, five objects embedded themselves in the dirt before him. He froze, recognizing the objects as kunai.

"What was _THAT_?" the blond demanded, jumping a few steps back. "You could have killed me!"

"But I didn't. Besides, they're blunted," Sasuke sighed, tossing the bag aside. "You were doing target practice."

"Yeah, so?" Naruto asked, still keeping a careful distance away while the Uchiha twirled a sixth kunai around his finger.

"I watched. Your aim is atrocious."

"Ah-tow...ah-trosh..." Naruto sputtered.

"Meaning bad." Sasuke explained, and held up the kunai before the other boy could protest. "Look, you can't just throw things at a target and hope you'll get lucky."

"I know that!"

"Then listen," Sasuke growled, resisting the urge to tie the hyperactive brat down. "Throwing kunai accurately is all about the wrist movement. You've got to control how much force you use." Seeing the other's blank look, Sasuke stepped past him and into the clearing. "Watch."

The kunai felt much more familiar in his hand than a stick or pebble. He gave a final twirl, testing its weight, before letting loose at the target.

_Thud._

He felt a small glow of satisfaction at hitting dead center before turning towards the blond, who was looking at him with a mixture of awe and indignation.

"Now you try." Sasuke said, gesturing to the rest of the kunai.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked.

"I can't teach you how to throw if you don't show me first."

The boy looked at him, eyes wide. "You're...gonna teach me?"

"You'll need to learn sooner or later," Sasuke said. "Unless you're planning to stay in the academy forever,"

That was enough motivation. Sasuke watched, bemused, as he tugged all five kunai out of the dirt and ran to his side.

"Watch this!" Naruto cried, before swinging a kunai. Without looking at the target, Sasuke already knew that he was going to miss. There was way too much power behind that throw.

"You're using too much of your shoulder, Uzumaki. Aiming is all about precision."

"Pre-sizz..."

_'Right. I keep forgetting we're eight-year-olds.'_ "Just bend your wrist."

-ooo-

Hours later, Sasuke watched as Naruto laid sprawled on the ground, panting. His aim had improved marginally, but the boy had spent more time running and recovering badly-thrown kunai than throwing them.

"My arm hurts," Naruto complained.

"Giving up?" Sasuke asked, smirking. It was starting to get dark already.

"No way!" Naruto cried, scrambling to his feet and puffing out his chest. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday, you know! And a Hokage never gives up!"

The smirk faltered. "Hn. Hokage, huh?"

"Believe it!" Naruto was grinning brilliantly now.

"Then you should be getting home," Sasuke said, turning away. "Lesson's over. School's tomorrow, and a Hokage wouldn't be late for class."

Naruto scowled before he remembered something. "Hey, you forgot your kunai!"

Sasuke waved a hand carelessly as he walked off. "Keep them. I have more, and you need the practice."

"Eh? But..." Naruto's words died in his throat as he realized the other boy had disappeared again. Darn it! And he didn't even get a chance to learn his name!

Still...as the blond bent down to gather the strewn weapons, he couldn't help the smile creeping onto his face. He'd met someone his own age today, and one who was actually nice to him. That made five people since he joined the academy.

Well okay, so Sakura-chan seemed to forget he existed most of the time, but that was fine, 'cause it was still her first year. She probably needed more time to remember faces, that's all.

Humming to himself, the demon vessel made his way to home and a ramen dinner.

-ooo-

Later that evening, Sasuke opened the gates to the Uchiha Compound and stepped inside. Only then did the figure trailing him all day disappear in a poof of smoke. Ibiki would no doubt find his report interesting.

-ooo-

"You're certain about this," Ibiki repeated, glancing from the paper in his hand to the ANBU who had written it.

"I saw it with my own eyes, sir," The ANBU replied.

Ibiki sighed and drummed the desk with his fingers. The past few weeks had seen the ANBU Headquarters swarming with paperwork detailing the account of the Uchiha Massacre. Then there were the high-level archives of the Konoha Military Police Corps, also previously under Uchiha jurisdiction, whose reorganization and documentation had fallen on them as well. Knowing Fugaku's exacting throughness, that meant reading through mountains of files, even though Itachi had burned down half the building before his escape. Just yesterday he'd finished settling accounts with the last Uchiha heir at the Hokage's request, and now the brat was stuffing more paperwork down his throat.

_'I'm an interrogator, not some record-keeping chunnin!'_ Ibiki cursed. "All right, then. Keep an eye on him for the rest of the week, and report back if anything else happens."

"Yes, sir," the ANBU vanished in a poof.

Under normal circumstances, the ANBU would be answering to the Hokage, not the head of T & I. But ever since Uchiha Itachi's defection, things had been in an uproar, and the Council was leery of any more slip-ups in the future. They'd ordered performance evaluations, increased surveillance sentries, and upgraded security measures for the village until things settled down. For once, Ibiki could accept their paranoia.

Surprisingly, the Hokage and Council heads were lukewarm on the issue, and even Danzo, one of Konoha's most obsessive (and vocal) protectors, stayed mute. Due to this, no ANBU squad was dispatched to hunt down Itachi. If Ibiki didn't know any better, he'd swear the bunch were letting the matter drop on purpose.

Apparently the Council suspected something along the same lines, which was why they'd voted to assign half the ANBU force for peacekeeping purposes until more ninja could fill in the gap left by the police corps. Special jounin like Ibiki were temporarily assigned to watch over these forces, and sending one agent to check on the Uchiha brat had been his idea. It wasn't so much fear over the boy's safety as it was caution against the boy's actions.

Something bothered him about Uchiha Sasuke. He'd noticed it while undercover—the boy's initial panic, the way he moved to avoid his attacks, and all those questions... He'd acted calmer and more clear-headed than any eight-year-old after losing his family overnight. Ibiki had no notions of Itachi's intentions, but he found it suspicious that Sasuke was spared when so many others had been killed—most of them civilians and children even younger than his little brother.

Using the Mangekyo Sharingan on Sasuke...it was very possible that Itachi kept him alive on purpose, perhaps to use as a pawn later on when the time was ripe. With advanced genjutsu, you could implant suggestions, thoughts—even fake memories—into your victims, and have them swear by them as truth afterwards. It was dangerously unclear territory, and Itachi had been one of the greatest genjutsu users of their time. The former ANBU captain was by all accounts an exceptional ninja. Sasuke's recent activity only heightened his suspicions.

_'Why would a son of the Uchiha clan associate himself with the Kyuubi vessel?'_

-ooo-

_(1)_Not sure where I read this, but canon has Sasuke first activating his Sharingan on massacre night before forgetting about it for the next four years. If it's not canon, it's at least my fanon, haha.

_(2)Gochisosama -_ literally "Thank you for the meal", traditionally said after finishing eating. Excuse any grammar mistakes, I don't actually speak Japanese.

**A/N:** There's a lot of time-travel fics in the Naruto!verse, but not a lot of Sasuke time-travel fics. Author **esama** published _End of one world_ a while back (which is awesome, btw, so go read it), but hasn't updated in a while, and I got inspired to try one myself. Key differences between that fic and this one is that Sasuke travels back four years earlier, and isn't quite as cold as _esama!Sasuke_. I'll see where he leads me from here.

Again, I am an AGONIZINGLY SLOW UPDATER, so read at your own risk.


	3. childhood, revived

_**Perfect Vision**_

**Disclaimer:** My personal nindo is to borrow, not to steal.

-ooo-

**chapter 02: childhood, revived**

Morning dawned bright and early upon Konoha Ninja Academy, shedding sunlight on the students lined up for class.

"Hey, hey, Shikamaru! Who's that kid?"

Shikamaru grunted as he tried to wave away the blond buzzing around him like a bumblebee. "Naruto, it's too early to answer questions."

Beside him, Chouji swallowed a potato chip before turning to Naruto. "Which kid?"

"Over there! By the tree!" Naruto gestured wildly. "Is he new?"

The other two looked his way, and Chouji's eyes widened in recognition.

"_He's—_"

"—in our class, dimwit," Kiba growled as he joined the trio. "Didja forgot? He was absent for two weeks."

"Don't call me dimwit, dog-breath," Naruto shot back, before he caught a glimpse of bright pink hair. "Hey! Good morning, Sakura-chan~!"

The girl blinked as she heard her name, and turned towards Naruto uncertainly. But the next moment a blond girl had already grabbed her arm and was pulling her away with giggling whispers.

Naruto beamed. Sakura had actually looked at him today! That was something to be proud of, and it pleased the blond so much he promptly forgot about anything else.

Until the bell rang, and he realized he was going to be late.

-ooo-

High in a corner of the classroom, away from the muffled whispers of his classmates, Sasuke brooded.

He'd spent most of last night digging through the clan scrolls, searching for answers to his condition. Information was infuriatingly sparse, and nothing even remotely mentioned time-travel. Of course, he hadn't expected to find much, but it was still discouraging. So he'd redirected efforts into the next best thing: researching the Uchiha history to find out more about Madara.

The oldest Uchiha had claimed to be caught in a coincidence with the events of the Nine-tails attack. Itachi had claimed otherwise, and obviously disliked the man. Sasuke knew both well enough to suspect that neither had ever lied to him directly. But purposely leaving out information and twisting the meaning of words...those were standard shinobi tactics, and Uchihas were masters of the basics.

He wasn't stupid—he knew that Madara had purposely egged him on to destroy Konoha. It was unfortunate that Sasuke's anger coincided with the man's revenge, or he would have taken more time to digest his words. A quick scan of the scrolls confirmed Madara as a shining example of power-hungry Uchiha arrogance and manipulation. "My-younger-brother-did-_SO_-donate-his-eyeballs-to-me" was a classic touch.

In a nutshell, Sasuke concluded that he'd replaced blindly chasing his well-meaning, half-insane, manipulative older brother to blindly following an ill-meaning, completely insane, manipulative old man.

Funny how dying gave you insight into these things.

The following morning he'd dragged himself to school while trying to figure out how to relive the next nine years of his life. Making a future hit-list was easy, but adjusting to the present was proving difficult.

A Uchiha with a mastered Sharingan could keep it on all the time with minimal chakra loss, something Sasuke used to do all the time. But the Sharingan was capable of memorizing the smallest details, and the last thing he'd seen with it was Konoha in its death throes. Now it was reminding him just how perfect those memories were.

_The Hokage Tower, a smoldering chunk engulfed in choking black smoke. Streets torn beyond recognition, reduced to rubble with the buildings that used to line them, twisted sculptures of metal, wood, and stone. Skies dyed a permanent, brilliant crimson, flecked with specks of fire and soot. And littered everywhere like the fallen leaves of a storm-tossed tree, lifeless bodies waiting to burn. Fire Country had never fit its name so well._

Scenes of death and carnage had ceased to affect him long ago. It was the sheer normalcy of the current Konoha that was keeping him on edge. There was too much lack of tension. He needed to—to do something—or go somewhere, or at least wreck something so it could match what it was supposed to look like—

Sasuke's thoughts came to a screeching halt as he quickly snuffed that idea. He'd tried that once. It hadn't done him any favors.

_**BANG!**_

There was a hush as the classroom door slammed open, revealing a panting Naruto. Blue eyes looked wildly about the room before finally settling on Sasuke with a glint of triumph.

"Ha! Found ya!" the blond yelled, before bounding up the steps to where Sasuke was sitting. Taking a deep breath, Naruto placed his hands on his hips and flashed a grin. "Wha'dya think? I made it on time!"

Sasuke looked at him blankly before another loud cry broke the silence.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?" A spunky eight-year-old Yamanaka Ino stomped up the steps and grabbed the boy by the ear, causing him to yelp in surprise. "Leave Sasuke-kun alone!"

"Ow! His name's-ow!—Sasuke?" Naruto asked between yelps of pain.

"Yea, dummy!" Ino sighed, before giving Sasuke an apologetic look. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun." Then she calmly took a struggling Naruto by the arm and plopped him next to Shikamaru and Chouji, warning him to stay put for his own good.

The Yamanaka heiress had a reputation for tough love—at least before she'd decided to crush on Sasuke. A part of him was thankful she hadn't morphed into a gushing fangirl. Yet.

As for Naruto, he looked ready to rebel until Shikamaru clamped a hand on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear. The blond gave his friend an incredulous look before turning to Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke, is it true that your—"

Whatever he was going to say was drowned out by the combined efforts of Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino burying him alive. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the dogpile. It looked like the Ino-Shika-Cho trio already knew the basics of good teamwork.

"You'll have to excuse Naruto," Shikamaru deadpanned. "People don't tell him things much."

Trust the lazy genius to be perceptive, even at eight. Still, Sasuke acknowledged his consideration, and inclined his head in reply.

A few moments later, they heard familiar footsteps. The trio dispersed, and Ino skipped to her seat, while a dishelved looking Naruto shot her a dirty look before settling down as the classroom door opened.

-ooo-

Umino Iruka was a firm believer in second chances. And third ones. And more. He'd forgiven Naruto for his pranks 18 times already, and that was just counting from the start of this school year_(1)_. The chunnin was strict with his charges, but only because he gave them reasonable opportunities to behave.

Such as intentionally stomping when he walked through the hallways to make sure the brats knew he was coming.

He noisily turned the knob to let himself in, smiling briefly as he scanned the class. All seemed well. Hmm, Naruto's hair looked messier than usual. Did he oversleep this morning? He'd have to make sure the blond didn't drift off in class. He cleared his throat to catch the attention of a few daydreamers.

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei!" the eight-year-olds chorused automatically. Kind of cute, actually.

"I'll be taking attendance now," Iruka announced, opening a binder on the teacher's desk. He called out each name alphabetically, making a mark only when the student was absent. Pretty soon he'd reached the bottom of the sheet, and his pen paused before a name trailing a row of red x's.

"Uchiha, Sasuke." Iruka sounded the familiar syllables in his mouth. For the first time in two weeks, someone answered.

"Present." The voice was low, but steady.

Iruka's eyes looked up and found the black-haired boy sitting in the uppermost corner of the classroom. The boy noticed and gave him a level gaze.

Iruka met it briefly before returning to his attendance book. _'So __he's __finally __out __of __the __hospital.'_

"Glad to have you back, Sasuke."

The Hokage had informed him yesterday, but Iruka didn't expect the boy to actually show up. He could forgive Sasuke for skipping instead. Iruka sighed mentally. A kid went through crap like that...and the best thing the Sandaime could do was to send him back to school? No wonder so many shinobi had issues.

And to make matters worse, a random ANBU had dropped by this morning requesting his personal file on the Uchiha boy, on the grounds of village security. When Iruka asked for clearance, the ANBU had shown him signed orders from Morino Ibiki.

Morino _Mindscrew_ Ibiki. The guy most genins didn't know _existed_ until they took the Chunnin Exams. The same one that left his _jounin_ victims with nightmares for weeks on end. Kami, what were they thinking? That an eight-year-old would start a second massacre?

He made a note to find time and talk to Sasuke personally. Kid deserved to have someone relatively normal pay attention to him.

Closing the attendance binder with a loud _thwack _(those daydreamers were at it again), Iruka made a pretense of shuffling through some papers as he organized his thoughts. They were supposed to learn about the various Konoha clans today, but in light of recent events, he felt it wiser to save that topic for later. Some nice, solid, factual theory should be harmless enough.

"All right, class. Today we're going to review our lessons on ninjutsu."

Naruto immediately stood up. "Are you going to teach us any cool ones, Iruka-sensei?"

"I won't be teaching anything until you sit back down, Naruto."

The blond plopped into his seat as fast as he'd gotten up. Iruka nodded in approval before beginning his lecture.

-ooo-

From his seat in the corner, Sasuke found it easy to let his attention wander. It was more interesting to observe his former (or was it future? keeping tenses straight was tricky) Konoha ninja. Lacking experience and training, his classmates were still children, and easy to read.

Sitting alone in the same row was Aburame Shino, with hands in his pockets. A closer look revealed minute black lines on his desk—trails of kikai bugs, probably. The bug-user seemed to be doing a chakra control exercise, assembling the insects to form various kanji on his desk. Sasuke caught a fleeting instance of a few words: _'Fire', __'Water', __'Earth'_—ah, he was taking notes on Iruka's lecture on elemental ninjutsu—_'Wind', __'Wood', __'Sunglasses', __'Sushi'_. Or he could have been just bored.

A few rows below sat Inuzuka Kiba, lying with his head on his arms. He was strategically blocked by a group of students immediately in front of him. While the boy appeared to be dozing off, sharp eyes noticed his right hand fidgeting beneath the desk. Sharp ears picked up the soft crunching noises made by a certain nindog as he accepted covert treats from his partner.

There was also the fact that a furiously wagging tail was peeking out from beneath the Inuzuka boy's jacket.

Five seats to Kiba's left sat the Hyuuga_(2)_ heiress Hinata, trying her best to pay attenion. But with Kiba teasing Akamaru on one side and the crush of her life on the other (even Sasuke had found enough future proof that she liked Naruto), she was having an interesting time. The girl's face kept alternating between various shades of pink, making her white eyes appear even paler in comparison.

The blond in question was sitting at the end of the row, next to Chouji and Shikamaru. The Nara boy was staring blankly into space, but that was his normal state in class (when not sleeping). Chouji was trying to ignore the antics of a restless Naruto, who was attempting to make a slingshot from the sticks and rubber band he'd dug out from his pockets.

Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, still young and still friends, sat together in seats near the front. Sakura was actually taking active notes, and looked alert and attentive. That didn't stop her from the occasional giggle when Ino took chances to whisper into her ear. The blond girl had her notebook open as well, but her notes were decorated with random doodles of hearts and flowers and shuriken.

Their actions were unguarded. Their defenses were nonexistent. He could form a rough profile of their personalities and weaknesses just from his observations. Any ninja worth his forehead protector would tear them apart in under a minute.

How much longer until they changed into the killers they were meant to be?

How long ago had he been the same way?

-ooo-

"Kiba!" Iruka barked, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts. The Inuzuka boy gave a jolt as he sat up. Guilty crumbs still clung to his fingers.

If the chunnin noticed, he didn't comment. "Which handseal was I talking about?"

"Er, uh...Rooster?" Kiba guessed.

"Wrong!" Iruka narrowed his eyes. "Anyone else who was paying attention?"

Several hands went up, including Sakura, Shino, and a hesitant Hinata. Iruka gave the black-haired girl a nod.

"Go ahead and tell your classmate, Hinata."

"Y-yes, Iruka-sensei..." the girl stuttered. "Um...we were on the...Dog seal."

Kiba shrank in his seat as a telltale whine issued from the depths of his jacket.

"Good job." Iruka nodded. Then he turned to Kiba with a smile that was all teeth. "Next time I catch your partner distracting you, he waits outside. Understood?"

Kiba mumbled something under his breath.

"And I'll call your mother over to keep him company."

"U-understood!" Kiba blurted out, eyes wide.

"Good." Iruka checked the time; morning classes were nearly done. "All right class, that's enough lecturing. You'll be going outside for taijutsu lessons until lunch."

_'Just __in __time, __too,'_ Sasuke mused as he spotted Naruto with a finished slingshot. Any longer and Iruka would have risked the blond pulling off another prank in class.

He trailed the crowd of students as they trooped dutifully through the classroom door. Iruka was still organizing papers on his desk, since the class had a different taijutsu instructor. He looked up as the boy passed by.

"Oh, Sasuke, could you wait a minute?" It was a casual question. "There's some makeup work I'd like to give you for class."

Sasuke cast a sidelong glance at the rest of the students. "And the taijutsu lesson?"

"Don't worry about it. The hospital told the school to excuse you for a few days. Mizuki-sensei already knows."

Mizuki-sensei. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't match a face to it. Probably someone unimportant.

Iruka pulled out two chairs. "Have a seat, Sasuke."

The Uchiha expelled a breath as he resigned himself to Iruka's pyschiatric examination.

Because despite the chunnin's good intentions, that was the gist of this setup. Iruka wanted to make sure he was still sane and functional. Not broken or suicidal or traumatized. He didn't blame him for checking. Konoha was the one that wanted its tools sharp.

'_But,__' _Sasuke reminded himself,_ '__Broken __tools __can __still __draw __blood.__'_

-ooo-

They went through all the make-up assignments before Iruka changed the topic. Start somewhere bland, he reminded himself. He wanted to gain the boy's trust, but without upsetting him.

"So, how'd you like the hospital food?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows a millimeter.

"That bad, huh? Guess some things haven't changed." Iruka smiled sheepishly. "I stayed in one when I was around your age. Hated it."

Now the Uchiha blinked.

"There was a nurse who brought me all my meals," Iruka continued in the silence. "A medic-nin, to be specific. She had brown hair. And she would never let me leave any leftovers."

"Back then, I didn't feel like eating much of anything. We argued. She yelled at me. I threw rice at her face. She threatened to tie me up and hang me outside the window. I dared her to." Iruka grimaced. "I shouldn't have."

"Anyways, to make a long story short, we came to an agreement. I would eat if she stopped making death threats." A pause for a smile. "One day, she brought me a bowl of fresh-cooked noodles."

"It was a gift, she said. Her husband was a cook and wanted to open his own restaurant. She figured that she'd try his recipe on the pickiest eater she knew."

A sneaking suspicion began forming in Sasuke's mind.

"Well, I devoured the whole bowl and asked for seconds. She told me I'd have to get out of the hospital first—and finish all my food." Iruka paused again, but there was no smile this time. "The next day, she left the village for a mission and never came back."

"I left the hospital and became Ichiraku Ramen's_(3)_ first customer."

-ooo-

The rest of Iruka's class were at the practice grounds, listening to Mizuki-sensei rattle on about the basics of attack and defense. To Naruto, it was pointless. Real ninja didn't stand around talking their enemies to death. They beat them up! He shifted on his feet before turning to Chouji.

"Hey, what's taking Sasuke so long?"

Chouji shrugged. "Maybe Iruka-sensei had to give him lots of work."

"Man, that sucks! I want to fight him!"

"You do?" The Akimichi's eyes were wide. "How come?" He'd prefer not fighting if he could help it. It took away snacking time.

"Just 'cause I haven't before. I bet I'd be awesome." Naruto grinned.

"Mm." Chouji's was noncommital.

Something suddenly occurred to Naruto. "Oh yeah, why'dya guys squish me this morning?" he scowled. "That hurt, y'know!"

"Well, what were you going to ask Sasuke?"

The blond put his hands behind his head. "The stuff that Shika told me. About his family and junk."

Chouji looked aghast. "That's...you shouldn't ask him that."

"Why not?" Naruto was honestly clueless.

"Because...because they're...you know. Gone."

To the boy who grew up without a family, this wasn't anything new. "Yeah, I know that. I wanna know how come nobody beat up the bad guy? Sasuke's family were ninjas, right?"

"Most of the...the Uchihas were, yeah," Chouji nodded, swallowing. He wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was going. You didn't just go around talking about your classmate's family's murder like that, even in a ninja village. Not when it happened less than a month ago.

"Uchiha, huh..." Naruto tested the word on his tongue. "They're...those guys with the fan thingies on their shirts, right? Kinda like some cool uniform or something?"

Chouji nodded, feeling uneasier than ever.

"Didn't a bunch of them used to hang around the village all the time?" And they all lived in one part of town, behind those long white walls and that huuuge gate...

"The Uchihas made up Konoha's Police Corps," Shikamaru drawled as he joined the pair. "They watched over the village to make sure no one got hurt."

"That's dumb." Naruto snorted. "How could they protect us when they all got killed by ONE bad guy?"

"Shi...Shikamaru!" Chouji looked desperately at his friend. How could they make Naruto understand? They were ninjas, sure, but they were classmates first! And classmates had something called tact!

"Hn. Naruto has a point," Shikamaru conceded, while Chouji could only gape.

"So you think the Uchihas were sucky ninja too?" Naruto said cheerfully.

"Well..." Shikamaru seemed to be seriously considering the question.

"Akimichi! You're up!" Mizuki-sensei's voice pierced through the air.

"C—coming!"

Chouji had never been so eager to spar in his life.

-ooo-

Back in the classroom, Sasuke connected the dots. So Naruto's favorite ramen cook had married a Konoha kunoichi. Fine. But what was the point of the story?

Iruka made a wry expression. "I'm not sure why I told you all that. Though I think..." he quirked a smile. "You know...in life, when people get hurt, they go to hospitals. But it's not the hospitals that make you better."

"It's the bonds you form with the people you know."

Oh. It was a 'Power of Friendship' speech. Sasuke tuned out as Iruka waxed poetic about shinobi ties and the Will of Fire and other related sap.

He...didn't trust himself with friends.

No, not after what he did. Teammates were fine, allies equally acceptable. But to step beyond those borders...people like him were better off keeping connections professional. You never knew what little things could make them snap. Make him snap.

"It's about lunchtime," Iruka said, glancing out the window. "So how about this, Sasuke? Feel free to find me anytime you want to talk, all right? It doesn't matter what about—any little thing that's bothering you, or questions that need answers—I'll be happy to help out, or listen."

Sasuke nodded. Whatever satisfied the man to leave him alone was good enough.

Iruka brightened, and walked Sasuke to the door. "Great. Then I'll see you later in class."

"Hn."

-ooo-

Lunchtime rolled around quickly. Usually, Naruto would be chowing down with his friends, but Shikamaru had given him plenty of food for thought. Rubbing his chin, the blond tried to recall what he had learned.

The Uchihas had been a strong clan—as in really, really strong—and pretty powerful in the village. In fact, it had taken someone crazy-scary-powerful to kill them off—at least according to what Shikamaru heard from his dad. And none of the village ninja had caught him!

But how did Sasuke live?

The genius had shrugged and muttered something Naruto hadn't understood and quickly forgot.

Well, as far as he could figure out, Sasuke had escaped being killed by a super-crazy-kick-a** ninja. Which could only mean...

The guy was secretly a super-awesome ninja himself! And he helped Naruto with his target practice, which would help him be Hokage, so they could become a team of ultimate ninja coolness! (Maybe they'd be so cool, Sakura-chan would want to join them!) Then they could protect Konoha, open Ichikraku Ramen shops in all the other villages, and kick that bad guy's butt to make him pay! Yeah!

**_Grrrrrooooooowl~_**

Naruto tightened his hold on his bento and patted his belly. It would have to hold on a while longer, 'cause he had to find someone first!

-ooo-

Sasuke furrowed his brow as he chewed his fish, before using his chopsticks to pick up a mouthful of rice. It was too salty. He wished he'd saved the salad in his bento for this.

He was eating his lunch alone under a tree in the most secluded part of the Academy. It was a home-made bento, filled with typical fare like rice, fish, and vegetables. But it was a far cry from palatable cooking.

Honestly, his temporary nanny had no tastebuds. He'd have to make her read a cookbook. Or skip the salt. Or something.

_Nine years ago, it had been traumatizing, going home as an eight-year-old. He'd found the lights on and sounds coming from the kitchen. A younger Sasuke had dropped everything and ran to the source, heart pounding, breathing fast, hardly daring to hope..._

_...only to find a stranger in HIS mother's apron cooking him dinner. It was a woman, one of the many civilian caretakers the Hokage had forced on him during his first months out of the hospital. Predictably, he'd been crushed. When she smiled at him, shock morphed into fury. He'd drawn his kunai and chased the intruder out of HIS house and HER kitchen. After getting the apron back, of course._

When he left Naruto last night, Sasuke had walked home and found the same lights on, with the same sounds from the kitchen. He'd calmly entered the room and paused when he saw someone completely different. Whoever the Hokage had found for him this time, it wasn't anyone he remembered from his memories.

How...unexpected.

But at least she was wearing her own apron. A good start.

"Oh, you're just in time for dinner," the woman said. "I was getting worried because it was getting dark."

Sasuke took his seat at the table without comment.

"The Hokage sent me to look after you. I'll be cooking your meals and helping you with anything you need, so feel free to ask, all right?" Her smile was pleasant and bland. "You can call me Nemoto-san."

Sasuke took an experimental whiff. The Nemoto woman was making okonomiyaki_(4)_. Wasn't that more popular with street vendors? And her use of condiments...

"Don't add too much vinegar," he warned.

"Vinegar? This recipe only uses soy sauce!" Nemoto-san replied, holding up a bottle.

"That's the vinegar."

"My, my!" she looked sheepish. "I guess it's too late now, huh?"

They had a civil dinner of (slightly sour) okonomiyaki, with Nemoto-san trying to make conversation and Sasuke providing one-syllable answers. And then they parted ways—her to the Uchiha guest quarters, him to his bedroom—at least until Nemoto-san fell asleep. He'd snuck off afterwards to pore over clan scrolls.

The next morning he'd entered an empty kitchen to find breakfast on the table and a note pinned to his chair. Nemoto-san had gone out to buy groceries. His bento was on the counter. Sasuke drank a bowl of (spicy) miso soup and ate two (lumpy) onigiri before heading off for school.

This Nemoto woman had questionable cooking skills.

"Oi, Sasuke! Man, was it hard trying to find you!"

Sasuke stirred from his thoughts at a very familiar voice. He frowned.

"What do you want, Uzumaki?" He'd picked a hidden spot on purpose to avoid company. Not that Naruto would have picked up on that...

Naruto's grin was blinding. "It's Naruto, y'know! Call me Naruto!"

Sasuke tried a glare, but it was a half-hearted attempt and failed. Naruto had nastier looks from fox-hating old ladies in the street. The blond sat himself next to Sasuke and began unpacking his lunchbox.

"I'm starving! What'dya bring for lunch?" He peeked at Sasuke's food. "Ooohh, looks cool. Why aren'tcha eating the fish, though? There's still lots left!"

Sasuke stabbed his fish, imagining it as Danzou's face. "It's too salty."

"Well, that's all right," Naruto said. "At least it's salty! Mine never tastes like anything."

_Stab._ Now it was Orochimaru.

"Don't you have friends to eat with?"

"They're all busy. Chouji had to go home 'cause he knocked down a tree in taijutsu class," said Naruto, stuffing his face.

_Stab._ And Kabuto. _Stab._ And those ignorant Council heads.

"Shikamaru went to look at clouds again, but that's _booooring_."

_Stab. Stab. Rrrriiiiiip!_ Slash and tear to ribbons. Madara merited a more creative death.

"Kiba's too busy bein' all mushy with his dog, and Ino-chan never lets me eat with Sakura-chan."

"You could sit with Aburame or Hyuuga," Sasuke said as he pounded the fish into mincemeat.

"You mean Shino and...and that girl with the white eyes?" Naruto shrugged. "Shino always shoos me away. Says I scare the bugs or something. And I've never talked to the other girl before. Besides," he swallowed with a loud gulp, "I wanna eat with you."

"Why?" Sasuke gave him a glare.

"'Cause we're friends, 'course!" Naruto replied with a look that screamed '_duh!'_. "...aren't we?" he added, when Sasuke's glare didn't waver.

Stupid, stupid, _stubborn_ Naruto. You could decimate his village, threaten his precious people, and put a Chidori through his chest. In the end, he'd still try to drag you home (after beating you up something fierce) because you were his _friend_. But...

_'I'm not your friend.'_ Sasuke thought. Not someone like him.

Naruto squirmed beneath Sasuke's scrutiny. "...do you always stare at people like that?" He edged back a couple of inches. "It's creepy, y'know!"

"Che." But Sasuke dropped his gaze. "You're making a mess of your bento."

Naruto glanced at his sprawling mix of rice and chicken (he gave Shino his vegetables to feed to the bugs) and shrugged. "I'm hungry. 'Sides, aren't ya doin' the same thing?" He pointed an accusatory chopstick at Sasuke's mutilated fish.

"I told you, it's too salty." Sasuke said, turning away to glare at the trees. _'Someone is there. And now there's two of them. Watching me. No,'—_a quick glance a Naruto—'_Watching **us**.'_

"So you mash it to little pieces? How does THAT fix anything?"

_'They're high level chakra signatures. Very faint, well-hidden...but not perfect. ANBU, most likely. Che.' _Sasuke inserted a mouthful of fish with rice and started chewing._ 'Guards for Konoha's security risks.'_

"Well?" Naruto demanded in the silence. "Aren't ya gonna say something?"

"Eat if you're hungry," Sasuke shot back, still facing the trees. _'Come to think of it, someone's probably been shadowing me since I left the hospital. Hokage's orders? Or...'_

Naruto scowled, but did as he was told. At least for two minutes.

"Hey—"

"If you've got nothing else to do," Sasuke said, cutting him off, "Then meet me after school."

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see." And for the rest of his lunch, Sasuke stayed mute.

-ooo-

Somewhere else in Konoha, Morino Ibiki took a sip of coffee as he read over Uchiha Sasuke's school reports. It was a fragmented file, starting with notes and observations in April and ending abruptly in the first week of September, before the massacre.

_'A bright, independent child. Consistently top of his class, and a credit to his clan,'_ wrote one teacher.

_'Quick-thinking, intelligent. Grasps theories easily. Has an excellent mastery of shinobi basics. Rather proud.'_ noted another.

_'Sasuke is polite and well-mannered, but appears aloof and withdrawn from his peers. I hope that he will open up to his classmates in the future.'_ That was Iruka's handwriting, without a doubt. His personality leaked through the words._ 'Shows strong knowledge of ninja skills and history. Can recite shinobi code by heart. Is fiercely competitive, with a desire to prove himself...'_

Ibiki made a mental comparison with Uzumaki Naruto. Loud. Brash. Rude. Notorious for his pranking, even at eight. Bottom of his class for every exam.

He narrowed his eyes. An overachieving loner and the class delinquent. Their personalities clashed. One was arrogant and condescending, the other blunt and impudent. Even after the massacre, Sasuke had retained much of the trademark Uchiha pride. Ibiki couldn't imagine how the pair could get along. Unless...

He might be overly paranoid. They were both children, after all. It was common knowledge that Naruto was an orphan. Sasuke might have emphatized with that fact.

But in a ninja village, age meant nothing. Their latest missing-nin had been a 13-year-old ANBU captain. Then there were his instincts. Ibiki never doubted them, and they were blaring warning sirens in his head every time Uchiha Sasuke's name popped up.

Something about the boy just felt...off.

It was the little details. The way he talked, the words he used. And his reactions—or rather, lack of them. The brat was acting way too normal after losing his entire clan. Post-trauma shock, perhaps. Or denial. Maybe Itachi's Sharingan glossed over the gorier bits of the massacre for his precious little brother. Ibiki didn't know, and he couldn't begin to guess. Either way, the kid had some thick skin.

Still, as a professional, he valued hard evidence over everything else. Ibiki took a bite of his sandwich as he put the file away.

A week's worth of observations. If nothing special happened in seven days, he was going to leave things to the Sandaime. The Hokage had promised to take care of things, and Ibiki couldn't afford to waste ANBU resources on a brat. In the meantime, there were still those Police Corps files to review.

It looked like the Uchihas had a penchant for plaguing his life.

-ooo-

At the academy, the rest of the day passed uneventfully, though Naruto earned a lecture after trying out his slingshot on Iruka-sensei during class. After school, eager students streamed out the doors like a hive of bees, buzzing with chatter as they honed in on family and friends.

Sasuke decided to wait out the crowd, organizing his books in the emptied classroom. Like everyone else, Naruto was long gone. In fact, the blond had been one of the first ones out the door when the bell rang.

"Sasuke."

Iruka-sensei was calling. The teacher waved as he caught Sasuke's eye.

"A woman named Nemoto-san left a message saying she'd pick you up. Can you show me who she is?"

Identifying students' parents and guardians was standard academy protocol. No village wanted enemy nin sneaking into schools and kidnapping future shinobi, even if the chances were microscopic to none.

Sasuke lowered his chin to mean 'yes'.

"Great. We'll find her when you're ready."

For a man who screamed his head off at Naruto multiple times a week, Iruka was surprisingly patient as Sasuke collected his things. Then again, maybe it wasn't so shocking. From what Sasuke could remember, the instructor had a close bond with Naruto, and Kami knew one needed patience to deal with a hyperactive prankster.

-ooo-

"So..." Iruka said as their footsteps echoed through the hallways. "What does Nemoto-san look like?"

Sasuke shifted the bag of books on his shoulders. _'Height: approximately 1.7m. Hair: black, waist-length, straight. Eyes: brown, medium. No distinguishing features. Of normal build, with developed muscle in her upper arms. Favors right hand. Appears to be in her mid-thirties.'_

"Hn." he finally spoke. "She has long hair."

Iruka showed a wry grin. "All right. What color is it?"

"Black. Like my mother."

"...I see." If the chuunin's steps faltered for half a second, he was quick to recover. "Any other details?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes ever-so-slightly. _'Moves with exceptional balance. Excellent hand-eye coordination. Shows extensive network of calluses on both palms. May have had prior experience with weapons or combat. Weak culinary skills.'_

"No."

"All right," Iruka frowned slightly at the final tone in Sasuke's reply, but didn't have a chance to push the issue.

They had reached the academy doors, and Sasuke was already walking out.

Except for a few stragglers, all of the students were gone by now, and the schoolyard was eeriely quiet. Iruka looked left and right, eyes peeled for a long black-haired woman who wasn't Uchiha Mikoto.

"Any sign of her, Sasuke?" he asked after a few moments.

Sasuke shook his head—once, twice. A breeze rose up and ruffled his bangs, but otherwise the boy stood absolutely still.

Iruka resisted the urge to fidget, instead choosing to clear his throat. "Don't worry about it. It must be her first time picking you up. She must have took a wrong turn."

Sasuke said nothing, his gaze focused on the trees. And he still wasn't moving. _''ANBU's still keeping watch. Looks like Konoha's got eyes everywhere.'_

More waiting in silence. Iruka was getting impatient. What kind of caretaker was this Nemoto-san, anyways? If she was hand-picked by the Hokage (as Iruka had no doubt she must be, considering Sasuke's situation), then why wasn't she more responsible? He looked at Sasuke standing by his side. The boy hadn't stirred once since they came outside—which was, what, five minutes ago? Instead, he kept on staring at the trees. His posture was perfect, even with a bag crammed with books on his shoulders—one could even say it possessed a certain amount of poise.

Immediately, Iruka recalled a conversation he'd had with Daikoku, another academy instructor, when he got his class assignments in April.

_"Lucky dog, you got the Uchiha in your class," the man grinned when he saw Iruka's name list._

_"That's the norm, isn't it?" Iruka replied. "They're one of Konoha's largest clans. The Academy gets Uchihas every other year."_

_"Yeah. But **this** one," Daikoku jabbed a finger at Sasuke's name. "Is special. I've taught his brother."_

_"**You** taught?" Iruka raised an eyebrow. "Never seen him in your class."_

_Daikoku's grin widened. "Of course not. He graduated years ago, before you took this job. One of the most gifted students I ever had."_

_"Then he's one of the older Uchihas?"_

_Daikoku snorted. "Kid was only **10** when he made **chuunin**. One of those d**n geniuses." he laughed darkly. "Heck, Itachi-kun's probably in ANBU by now, unless he screwed up and got himself killed."_

_"I didn't know ANBU recruited children outside wartime," Iruka muttered._

_"Don't be naive, Umino," Daikoku drawled. "Even genin-rank ninjas are adults as far as the law's concerned."_

_Iruka knew that, but it didn't mean he liked it._

_A few weeks later, he gotten a first-hand peek at the famed Uchiha Itachi sending Sasuke off to school. The older boy was quiet and polite—short and slim, he looked completely harmless. But Iruka hadn't missed the effortless way he moved—in fluid silence, gliding like a panther—or the carefully schooled, blank expression in his eyes._

In the present, Sasuke turned to Iruka, and the chuunin was unnerved to see identical blank, black eyes staring at him. Was it possible for two brothers to be so similar? Those eyes revealed nothing to anyone. Had Itachi worn the same expression when he murdered his clan? Had Sasuke known that it was his brother—

"...walk home myself," Sasuke was saying as he turned away, leaving Iruka to blink furiously and collect his thoughts. He felt fascinated and, at the same time, a little sick.

"What was that, Sasuke?" Iruka managed to ask.

"The Uchiha Compound isn't far," Sasuke continued. "It won't take me long on foot."

"I'll come with you," Iruka decided, checking his watch. Two minutes since he drifted off. Fifteen since school ended.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but thought better of it and shut it again. Iruka felt strangely reassured by the action.

"In any case, I need to speak with Nemoto-san," Iruka said, gathering his confidence. "So lead the way, Sasuke."

The boy gave him a flat expression that literally screamed he _didn't need a babysitter_, which coaxed a chuckle from his teacher.

-ooo-

"Geez, Sasuke! I didn't know you were such a slowpoke!"

Sasuke's lips thinned even as Iruka's eye twitched. Standing before the gates of the Uchiha Compound was Konoha's legendary prankster, a triumphant glint in his eyes. Next to him was a rather confused woman with long black hair. But that wasn't the most important part.

Somehow, in the time between Naruto's exit from class and Sasuke's arrival home, the blond had painted the Uchiha Complex gates _bright orange_. Granted, it was a rush job, and parts of the paint were dripping, but his speed was still remarkable.

"Sasuke-kun? You're back?" the woman—Nemoto-san, of course—turned, revealing that half of her hair was orange as well.

It was Iruka who spoke next.

"What did you do, Naruto?"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto belatedly tossed the paint bucket he was holding into the bushes. "I—he...I mean—Sasuke told me to see him after school!"

"Did he tell you to paint his doors orange?" Iruka demanded. _'Sasuke wanted to see Naruto?'_ For what reason?

"No." Naruto admitted, but blurted out defiantly. "But he needed orange doors!"

"What makes you think that?"

"Orange makes everything better!" the blond insisted, as if that explained everything.

"Then you won't mind if I do this." Sasuke said, walking up to Naruto with a fresh can of paint. Nemoto-san gasped and held out a hand to stop him, but it was too late—-

**_SPLOOSH!_**

"_C-cough_...Sasuke..._cough, cough_...you..." Naruto sputtered as he wiped orange from his eyes. "YOU POURED PAINT ON ME!"

Sasuke set the paint can on the ground with the others. "Your fault for leaving it around."

"But it was MY paint!" Naruto insisted.

"Doesn't matter. Enemies wouldn't care," Sasuke said. "A real Hokage knows better."

Nemoto-san and Iruka traded questioning glances, before looking at Naruto, who had fallen oddly silent.

"Let's go inside and get you cleaned up," Sasuke said, kicking the gates open and walking in. "We still need to talk." he added, when Naruto didn't move.

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto followed Sasuke's footsteps. Nemoto-san and Iruka were left standing outside.

"I assume...this is why you didn't pick up Sasuke today?" Iruka finally spoke.

Nemoto-san gave an embarassed nod. "Ah...yes. Please forgive me for that." She patted her orange hair awkwardly. "Perhaps...would you like to come in as well? I think I'll need assistance to look after those two, while I, er..."

Iruka caught the invitation and accepted. "Yes, I'd be delighted. They're both my students, and I need to talk to Naruto, too." he frowned at the orange splatters everywhere. "He'll have to clean up this mess."

"Then...thank you. Please follow me." Nemoto-san bowed slightly.

As the doors closed behind him, Iruka found himself with plenty to puzzle over. Since when had Naruto and Sasuke been close? They'd barely looked at each other before the massacre! And Sasuke, who hadn't spoken more than a few words to him all day, could hold complete conversations with his classmate? And order him around, when Naruto hated following directions?

This was definitely something worth looking into.

But, Iruka decided, if Naruto could be friends with Sasuke, it could only be a good thing for the Uchiha orphan.

-ooo-

In the trees outside the Uchiha Compound, two masked ANBU traded looks with each other.

Bear mask signaled with his hands. _'What are the status of the Uchiha seals?'_

_'Partial activation,'_ Raccoon mask replied. _'Enough to alert insiders of intruders. I've checked, so don't try sneaking in.'_

Bear was slightly annoyed. _'I've been ordered to keep my target in sight at all times.'_

_'Konoha law is still in effect. No outside ninja are allowed inside the Uchiha Compound without invitation.'_ Raccoon signed.

_'Is there no way to override the seals?'_

_'You'd need a seal master or Sharingan user for that.'_ Raccoon paused. He'd tried asking Ibiki for Hatake Kakashi's help, but apparently the jounin had signed up for a month's worth of missions immediately after overseeing cleanup of the Uchiha complex. And Ibiki was clear that he didn't want to involve Hokage-sama in the matter just yet.

_'Anyways, your target isn't going anywhere. He's got his academy teacher with him.'_

_'And yours?'_ Bear asked in disbelief.

_'Special orders from my commander.' _Raccoon explained._ 'I'm not required to monitor his activities at home.' _Though if the Uchiha was spending time with Uzumaki…this could probably merit an exception. After all, Uchiha Sasuke's interest in Uzumaki Naruto was the reason Ibiki continued the surveillance in the first place.

_'Then I'll ask for assistance to override the seals,'_ Bear declared, pulling out headphone and wires.

Raccoon watched as he made inquires directly to the Hokage's office, and waited until he was done before signing again.

_'Any results?'_

Bear shook his head. _'Negative. Hokage-sama says to keep watch until target reemerges.'_

Raccoon sighed. _'Looks like we'll be sitting ducks for a while.'_

He could really use a nice assassination assignment right now. Why did Kakashi have to go and hog all the good outside-village missions? The guy wasn't even ANBU anymore!

-ooo-

Somewhere in the forests bordering Fire Country, a silver-head jounin quickly muffled a rising sneeze.

_'Maybe I should have packed that extra blanket...'_ Kakashi thought as he wiped his nose.

-ooo-

**(1)**pranks...since the start of this school year - I'm going with the typical Japanese school year here, which starts in April and has a summer break from July to August before continuing with the same grade. Assuming Sasuke passed his 8th birthday (July 23) before Itachi killed the clan, this should be sometime in late September.

**(2)**Hyuuga - I like writing out long vowels (rather than putting a line over the "u") because then I don't have to use 'Insert Symbol' on Word, which is annoying. And I just think it looks better, too.

**(3)**Ichikaru Ramen - Yes, I know. A Naruto movie says it opened 23 years ago, while the Third Databook said it opened 34 years ago. If we take Teuchi's age in Part II (47), that would mean he was either 24 or 13 years old at the time. So for fanfic purposes, let's just assume Kishimoto was just talking about the Ichiraku Ramen building, and have the actual restaurant open some time during Iruka's youth.

**(4)**okonomiyaki - It's like...a crispy vegetable pancake.

**A/N:** Oh wow, nearly 7,000 words and I didn't even finish writing a whole day. But I figured I'd take the time to establish some basic settings and characters before plunging into the actual plot. (Plus, cliffhangers are cruel when you're a slow updater.) I'm especially busy in winter and spring too, so I suggest all you readers go hibernate somewhere until summer. Reread your favorite Naruto fics, or find some other author who actually updates consistently. I picked my pen name for a reason, you know...

Also, Nemoto-san is there for a reason, because I dislike throwing in random OCs. But she won't be central to the plot. There will be NO Iruka/Nemoto pairing, either. Or Nemoto/anyone, for that matter.


	4. promise, sealed

_**Perfect Vision**_

**Disclaimer:** Copyright goes to Kishimoto, artistic license to me.

-ooo-

**chapter 03: promise, sealed**

-ooo-

"This is the bathhouse," Sasuke said, sliding open a bamboo door. "You can wash up here."

"Uh...thanks," Naruto said, not knowing what else to say. He peeked over his shoulder, frowning at the trail of orange on the wooden floors. "Hey, the paint..."

"I'll take care of it," Sasuke said flatly. "_You're_ still washing off the gates."

"But orange is aweso—"

"No." Sasuke's tone was final. "You've vandalized clan property, a crime in itself. As an Uchiha, I have every legal right to decide your punishment."

The blond opened and closed his mouth a few times. Naruto didn't understand most of the words Sasuke said, but he knew a threat when he heard it.

"It'll take time to clean up everything," Sasuke continued. "So you can stay for dinner."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. Did he hear correctly? Sasuke was letting him eat at his house?

"I'll leave a towel and change of clothes outside," Sasuke said, before turning away and walking out of sight.

_'Cool.'_ Naruto grinned as he entered the bathhouse.

"Whoa, this place is huge," he muttered under his breath. And funny-looking, too, compared to his own bathroom. The floors and walls were made of stone, and there was something that looked like a giant wooden tub on the side. Naruto zeroed in on a hose attached to a corner faucet as he pulled off his stained clothes.

_'Man, Sasuke is a weird guy,'_ Naruto thought as he turned on the water. Most people he pranked either yelled or laughed at him. Some, like that black-haired lady, were simply speechless.

But Sasuke didn't seem to care either way. Sure, he poured paint on Naruto, but Sasuke wasn't mad when he did it. Or maybe he was just really, _really_ good at hiding his feelings.

He'd even invited Naruto to dinner. Not even Shikamaru or Chouji had done that before. It was...kind of nice.

Still, it confused the heck out of Naruto. With pranks, he could trade insults with the ones who got mad, laugh with the ones who laughed back, and make fun of the ones too shocked to react. Pulling pranks was cool like that—in the end, prankster and victim always had a moment where they were equals—a minute or two where the villagers stopped ignoring him and started treating him like...well, like someone worth their attention. Even if they were yelling their heads off at him.

So what were you supposed to do when the person you tricked acted like no big deal had happened? Bother them about it? Pull an even bigger prank?

Naruto frowned. Nah. It was no fun if your target didn't react. He was better off saving his hard-earned paint for bigger projects...like the Hokage monument.

Yeah, that was DEFINITELY on his to-do list before graduation.

-ooo-

It only took Sasuke a few more turns to reach the guest bedrooms, where he proceeded to rummage through the closets to dig out a towel and a change of clothes small enough to fit Naruto. Once his load was secured, he headed out-and met Nemoto-san coming the same way, hair still splotched with orange.

"Are the spare towels in here?" she asked him, smiling blandly.

Sasuke replied with an affirmative grunt.

"I see. Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

He shrugged and walked past her, thinking to himself that her civilian disguise was really pushing it for a ninja. What kind of normal caretaker smiled like a wooden puppet? Or cooked like someone who burned off her taste buds? At least get the basics right! Did they think he'd be that oblivious, even for an eight-year-old?

He stopped walking as he remembered something. Turning around, he was just in time to see Nemoto-san stepping into the guestrooms.

"Hey."

The woman faced him with a smile.

"Uzumaki's staying for dinner." Sasuke announced. He didn't bother to register her reaction. It wasn't worth his time.

-ooo-

"How was Sasuke-kun today?" Nemoto-san asked.

She was sitting on the porch of a building by the front doors, hair freshly washed and carefuly plaited atop her head. A few feet away stood Iruka, leaning against a pillar as he watched Naruto.

"Fine," Iruka replied, eyes intent on the blond hosing down the gates. Sasuke stood by the other boy, supervising with folded arms. "Quieter than usual, but that's to be expected."

"I see. That's good." Nemoto-san smiled—a bland one, as per her usual. "Did you know he invited his friend to dinner?"

"Sasuke did?" Iruka's voice rose in surprise.

"Yes. In return for cleaning up the paint." Nemoto-san continued. "They're close friends, I suppose?"

"Not that I know of," Iruka admitted. "Sasuke's always kept to himself at school. And Naruto—" He stopped abruptly. It was no secret that Uzumaki Naruto was highly unpopular with most of the civilian population. And this Nemoto-san...

"What about Naruto-kun?" Nemoto-san asked, still smiling blandly.

Iruka looked carefully at her face as he spoke his next words. "Uzumaki Naruto has a bit of a reputation with his peers. Mostly due to his pranking."

The smile held. "My, my, he sounds like an interesting character."

"Yeah. But the kid's got a good heart." Inwardly, Iruka was relieved. The woman didn't seem care who Naruto was—or if she did, was professional enough to accept him beyond his status as a demon vessel. "He's the type that grows on you."

"Mm."

"All right! I'm done!" Naruto announced. He was dressed in one of Sasuke's spare shorts and a blue shirt without the Uchiha logo. It was new to see the blond wearing sober colors for once. "And now...take this for bossing me around, Sasuke!"

The blond aimed the hose at the Uchiha, who simply stepped out of the way, leaving the water to spray onto an unsuspecting Iruka.

"...whoops?"

"NARUTO!"

"Eh, Iruka-sensei! It's not my fault you can't duck!"

"GET BACK HERE! AND LET GO OF THAT HOSE!"

-ooo-

"Are you sure you won't stay for dinner, Umino-san?" Nemoto-san asked.

"No, it's quite all right," Iruka smiled, though it was a bit forced. "I wouldn't want to trouble you—and there's someone I'm meeting later as well."

"Well, if it's a prior appointment, don't let us keep you," Nemoto-san said. "Here, let me take that before you leave."

"My thanks." Iruka handed over the sopping towel he'd used to dry off his hair. Luckily, Naruto had aimed high, so most of his clothing had been spared.

In truth, Iruka wouldn't have minded hanging around the Uchiha Complex a bit longer. It was rare to see Naruto making friends so quickly. At first he'd worried that Naruto would be a nuisance, but Sasuke was amazingly tolerant of the boy and Nemoto-san seemed willing to treat him civilly. In short, they accepted him, obnoxious pranks and all.

With that fact, Iruka felt better about leaving the blond behind. There was also another minor detail: Sasuke had clearly invited Naruto to dinner—and only Naruto. Iruka didn't want to push himself into the Uchiha's company until the boy made the first move. The state of things still seemed too fragile to try anything extreme. Besides, he really did have to meet someone—once he found him, that is.

"Naruto, Sasuke!" Iruka called from the doorway. The two boys were sitting in a corner. "I've got to go now. Be good and listen to Nemoto-san, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said, dismissing him with a wave. Sasuke didn't even look up.

Iruka sighed and scratched his head. He could only trust his choice was for the best.

-ooo-

When the adults were gone, Sasuke turned to Naruto, who was fiddling with his fingers and muttering under his breath after a recent Iruka-sensei lecture.

"Hey."

The blond looked up briefly. "Hm?"

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked.

"Eh?" Naruto gave him a blank face. "You feelin' okay, Sasuke? _You_ told me to stay for dinner-"

"I don't mean that," Sasuke cut in. "Why are you here in Konoha, going to the ninja academy everyday?"

"Uhh…learnin'. To be awesome."

"Are you really learning?"

"Yeah!"

"What can you do?"

"I can use kunai, I can beat people up, I can do the Replacement Technique-"

"Useless." Sasuke said, and raised a hand when Naruto started to protest. "Your kunai barely hit their targets, you've never beaten anyone in class with proper taijutsu, and you only use the Replacement Technique to escape from your pranks."

Naruto's face turned red as he puffed up. "So what? When I get to be Hokage-"

"How will you become Hokage?"

"I-I'm gonna…"

"Ask the Sandaime to make you one? I doubt he'd agree so easily." Sasuke said. "Even if he did, how would you face your enemies? Replace yourself with a log? Throw some kunai? I doubt they'd be impressed."

Naruto scowled. "I'll blast 'em with a jutsu!"

"What kind of jutsu?"

"Somethin' cool!"

"Like what?"

"Somethin' really, really awesome!"

"Such as?"

Naruto screwed up his face and muttered something that sounded like: "_Somereallyawesomecoolan'awesomekickbutt_…technique!"

"Uzumaki. You're an idiot."

That was the last straw. Sure, not many people took his dream seriously-even Iruka-sensei chuckled lightly whenever Naruto brought it up, and reminded him to pay more attention in class. Most people just laughed at him, (or in Kiba's case, insulted him outright). Naruto didn't care, because he was sure he'd show them all some day. Except…

…except that Sasuke had just asked him a bunch of confusing questions that made his future as Hokage a lot less sure. Who cares about enemies when you're the boss? Everyone would bow to his awesomeness by then, so there was nothing to worry about, right? Sasuke was just…he was just…

"_You're _the idiot, Sasuke," Naruto shot back, folding his arms in what he thought was smug superiority. "When I'm Hokage, you'll be sorry you crossed me."

'_Take that, stupid Sasuke! Did I just sound cool or what?' _Naruto gloated mentally.

The next second, he doubled over as Sasuke kicked him in the stomach.

"O-OW!" Naruto winced, "HEY! What was _that _for?"

"I refuse to accept such an idiotic Hokage." Sasuke said flatly. "If you want the title, you better be able to defend it."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto growled, aiming a punch at Sasuke. It missed, and Naruto staggered a few steps forward before a well-placed strike on the back sent him crashing to the floor.

"Is that it?" Sasuke asked as a watery-eyed Naruto sat up, gingerly rubbing his nose. The blond clenched his teeth and got to his feet. This. Meant. _**War**_**.**

He charged again at Sasuke, who swerved out of the way, using a foot to trip Naruto in the process. But the blond broke his fall with a forward roll, and recovered his senses enough to launch a low kick at the Uchiha, who dodged and returned with a kick aimed at Naruto's jaw.

Pain exploded in Naruto's head as he crashed to the ground again. But the next second his legs had locked themselves around one of Sasuke's ankles, and he gave a terrific jerk that sent the Uchiha falling to the ground. Or so he thought. Instead, Sasuke twisted his body mid-fall so that he body-slammed elbow-first into Naruto's ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Before Naruto had a chance to recover, Sasuke had pinned him down with a kunai against his neck.

Blue eyes darted furiously to meet black ones, as Naruto choked out, "Are you _crazy, _Sas-"

His words died in his throat. The steel pressing against his skin was mercilessly cold, but that was nothing compared to the dead, icy stare that Sasuke was leveling at him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice was screaming at him to get away, and get away _fast _because this guy was _not messin' around and he was going to die, he just __**knew **__because he saw it in those eyes and-_

-the next second, it was all over. Sasuke had withdrawn his weapon, rolled to one side, and was offering a hand to help Naruto up. The blond, still dazed, lay there stupidly until Sasuke forcibly hauled him to his feet.

Naruto flinched at the contact before he angrily slapped Sasuke's hand away, stumbling back in the process.

"W-what was _that _all about?!" he demanded, still shaky from the experience.

"A test." Sasuke said. "You failed." Sloppy moves, hot-headed temper, resolve that melted even under the barest hint of killing intent-the Naruto now was a mess, nothing at all like the his future self, wielder of the perfected Rasengan and destroyer of entire armies.

"That's not fair!" Naruto immediately shouted. "I wasn't ready-"

"Uzumaki."

It was just one word, but it shut the blond up. He stared suspiciously at Sasuke. "What?"

"On the count of three, I'm going to attack you with a kunai. Defend yourself."

"Wha—"

"_One._"

Naruto snapped his mouth shut and started looking around the room. No weapons in sight-had Sasuke picked an empty room on purpose? Then where-

"_Two._"

-what the heck! Three seconds was barely enough time for anything! That was it, Sasuke was nuts and he was gonna get out of here as fast as he could-there was the door-

"_Three."_

Before he had taken one step, Sasuke was already rushing towards him with _blinding _speed, kunai in hand. Naruto only just managed to swerve out of the way, but still got nicked in the process.

"Was that warning enough?" Sasuke asked from the other side of the room. "Or should I give you a ten-second head start next time?"

"You…" Naruto touched his face with his fingers, blanching at the sight of blood. "You're _nuts_!"

"And you're weak. What are you going to do about it?"

Naruto's answer was to head for the door. Too bad Sasuke got there first.

"Move it," Naruto hissed, glaring at the kunai in the other boy's hand.

"Answer my question." Sasuke was completely calm.

"Like heck I will! You're a-a crazy person!" Naruto sputtered. "Whad'ya mean, tryin' to cut me up and givin' me 'tests' and stuff like that?! I thought-" '_I thought we were going to be friends!' _"-anyways, you're nuts and I'm going home!"

Mustering his will, he pushed Sasuke to the side and stormed past him. Getting invited to dinner wasn't worth getting nearly killed over. He was going to need some extra ramen to make up for this, that's for sure.

"Are you just going to run away, Uzumaki?"

Naruto bristled at those words. "I'm _not _runnin' away!"

"You are. You're getting farther away from your dream of being Hokage with every step."

There it was again! Sasuke mocking his goal just like everyone else! And he said everything so _calmly, _too, like it was a given that he wouldn't succeed! What was his problem? Naruto turned on his heel and marched straight back.

"Say that again, you crazy outta-your-mind-kunai-eating nut-head guy!"

He expected Sasuke to attack him. Relished the thought, even, because his jaw was throbbing, his pride was wounded and Naruto had never felt such an urge to _hurt _somebody for all his humiliation.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke began. "I will…"

'_Squish you like a bug? Cut you up so bad nobody'll know you at class tomorrow?' _Naruto's mind filled in the blanks as he cracked his knuckles.

"...make you Hokage."

'_Oh yeah? Well, I'll just paint your underwear orange after I-wait a minute...'_

"You...what?" Naruto asked. He must have heard wrong. Did Sasuke just say-

"I will make you Hokage," Sasuke repeated. "If you let me train you."

'_Huh?'_

-ooo-

At the gate to the Uchiha Compound, Iruka paused to look at his escort. The woman seemed harmless and unassuming, but there was more than met the eyes here.

"Ah…Nemoto-san, was it? Did you know Sasuke's family?" He supposed he was probing, but Sasuke was his student. Anyone appointed to guard the Last Uchiha had to be somebody exceptional.

Dark eyes flickered back to the house, before meeting Iruka's squarely. "I have no personal relations with the Uchiha. My mission was granted by Hokage-sama, to be continued until he sees fit."

Iruka swore he felt the temperature drop a couple degrees, but Nemoto-san still kept her usual bland expression. She was a ninja, of course. That explained her lack of hostility towards Naruto. Most of Konoha's ninja population respected, if not accepted, the fact that their Fourth Hokage had sealed the demon in Naruto for the greater good.

But why hire a ninja to babysit Sasuke? As far as Iruka knew, Naruto's tenant posed the greater security risk-yet the Hokage had never sent a ninja to act as nanny for _him_. Was it to protect Sasuke, when the village was already on high alert, in case Itachi returned to finish the job? Or…thinking back to the ANBU that asked him for Sasuke's files…was it to watch Sasuke, so that he didn't make the same mistake as his brother?

Still, no matter how he looked at her…

"You're not acting the part," Iruka said slowly. "Your smiles, the way you talk…it's not quite right. Wouldn't Sasuke suspect?"

Nemoto-san's expression didn't change. "I was given explicit commands _not _to act the part."

An imperfect disguise? For _Kami's_ sake, why? To see if Sasuke would notice? And then...? Iruka was stumped, but his questions were cut off as the woman spoke.

"As a fellow shinobi, I will expect your silence and cooperation in this matter, Umino Iruka," Nemoto-san continued, still with a bland smile. "Uchiha Sasuke's situation is still quite…delicate. Please report to me if anything unusual happens regarding my charge."

There was finality in her tone that gave Iruka no choice but to nod in assent.

As the chuunin disappeared from sight, Nemoto-san turned to the trees. She whistled a certain signal before waiting expectantly. Seconds later, two shadows landed on the ground by her feet.

"Bear. Raccoon." She identified the pair. "Which one's on tailing duty?" Also known as follow-the-Nine-tails-brat-around-duty.

Bear raised a hand in affirmative, before muttering, "You…you're Cat?"

Nemoto gave the slightest of nods. "This is an official mission, and I will tolerate no interference, understood?" When Bear made to speak, she raised a hand. "I don't think your target's going to stay the night, so expect him out in a few hours."

She then faced the second shadow. "Raccoon. What are you here for?"

"Captain, just a surveillance mission," Raccoon reported.

"Target?" Nemoto-san asked.

"I'm not authorized to say," Raccoon admitted, though the answer was obvious enough.

Nemoto-san thought so too. "I wasn't aware the Hokage assigned two masks_(1)_ to monitor Remnant_(2)_."

Raccoon hesitated, before shaking his head. _He didn't._

Nemoto-san frowned slightly. "If it's just surveillance, then I can't argue." _Don't overstep Hokage-sama's boundaries. He put me here for a reason._

Raccoon nodded. Even though Cat had been appointed ANBU Captain just a few days after Itachi's defection, her authority was absolute. Ibiki was his temporary boss at best-and besides, Cat was answering to the Hokage. ANBU didn't cross their superiors.

"Dismissed." Two shadows vanished in the blink of an eye as Nemoto-san returned to the Uchiha Compound.

-ooo-

"Wha…what do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I don't like repeating myself." Sasuke said. "Will you let me teach you, or not?"

Naruto opened and shut his mouth, at a loss for an answer. "I…"

"Don't know a thing," Sasuke finished. Though his early memories of the academy were fuzzy, he was certain Naruto had been dead last since the beginning.

Predictably, Naruto did not take that statement well. "Well, _you're_ not Iruka-sensei! What would _you_ know?"

"Enough to beat you." Sasuke deadpanned. "And I'll say this now: if you refuse, then there's no need for us to keep talking. You can do whatever you want, but don't expect me to stick around and watch." _'Dead-last, if you __**dare **__refuse, I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life and Sharingan you into agreeing anyways.'_

Naruto was stuck. On the one hand, someone was actually kind-of taking his dream seriously, and offering to help him out. On the other hand, that someone thought he was a big fat good-for-nothing failure. Did he really want a guy like that putting him down all the time? Or trying to kill him when he least expected it? Or, maybe even accidentally succeeding one day? The thought made him shudder. He couldn't die before becoming genin! That'd be so..._uncool._

And he wouldn't, Naruto decided right then and there. He could refuse and walk away right now, and Sasuke wouldn't even 'stick around to watch', as he put it. It's not like they knew each other before or anything. 'Sides, even if Sasuke stopped talking to him, he still had plenty of friends to hang out with. Chouji was great for eatin' chips with, and Shika was pretty cool once he stopped lookin' at clouds, and Kiba would get over his dog sooner or later, right? Plus, there was Sakura-chan, whom he still had to marry one day...

Thinking about Sakura-chan naturally made Naruto dissolve into a series of improbable daydreams involving love confessions with neon orange sparkles, undying vows of loyalty, and endless bowls of ramen.

"Hey. Don't space out," Sasuke said as Naruto's eyes glazed over. "That woman's back."

Woman? Oh, the lady he splashed paint on today, Naruto remembered, just as Nemoto-san came strolling onto the scene. She glanced at the boys, taking in the bruised jaw, bloody cheek, and disheveled appearances-Sasuke had put away his kunai already.

"We sparred," Sasuke spoke before she asked any questions. "I know where the bandages are. See you at dinner." Grabbing Naruto by the wrist, he made a quick exit.

Nemoto-san watched them leave in silence, smiling blandly.

'_How very interesting.'_

-ooo-

Sasuke was rummaging through the medicine cabinet of the nearest bathroom while Naruto stood to one side, making faces at the mirror.

"Ne, Sasuke, you know...I don't need any bandages."

"Did your cut heal already?" Sasuke asked without looking.

"Yep. Stopped bleedin' an' everything," Naruto grinned proudly. "I get well real fast."

Sasuke finally found the first aid kit and turned around. Naruto had rubbed off the blood from the place where he'd been nicked, and the skin beneath was flawless and unbroken. He knew the Nine-tails gave Naruto frighteningly fast regenerative powers, but didn't expect the demon to fuss over small cuts and scrapes, too. Its attentions were almost _motherly_. Almost.

Come to think of it, he'd never remember seeing Naruto wearing bandages in the past. Not even on that disastrous mission to Wave, or during the Chuunin Exams, or after the first invasion of Konoha. There were a few instances later on, when prolonged war and struggles between the ninja villages proved to tax even Naruto's stamina. But most of his memories of the blond had seen him cut, bloody, bruised, or limping-yet still bandage-free._(3)_

It was such an obvious clue to Naruto's _uniqueness_ that Sasuke wanted to hit himself for never noticing sooner. How many times had he seen other ninja nursing broken bones or arms in slings while Naruto waltzed by, hands behind his head and whistling? And no one else had found it strange that the blond always took a beating in academy sparring sessions, but had no scars to show for it?

Back then, he'd brushed it off as some weird bloodline ability, never guessing its darker implications. Ninja who didn't know anything would assume the same. Still, it was a detail that attracted attention-and the last thing Sasuke needed were extra eyes watching his every step, especially if he was going to stick with the blond.

"You should wash your face," Sasuke said, preparing a strip of bandage.

"But it's not bedtime yet," Naruto pointed out.

"It's for dinner. I don't want you getting blood on the plates."

That made sense, so Naruto complied while Sasuke tried not to feel like a babysitter. When the blond was finished, Sasuke stuck a piece of bandage on his face.

Naruto blinked, but to his credit, didn't rip it off immediately. "I told ya, Sasuke, I don't need bandages."

"Keep it on."

"How come? I look stupid." Naruto scowled at the white strip on his face.

"For practice."

"Practice?"

"Practice acting injured," Sasuke said. "You don't need to tell everyone you heal fast. It's better if you don't. You'll surprise more enemies."

"Like...a prank?" Naruto asked, touching his bandage with more interest.

"Like a prank." Sasuke echoed.

"Oh. Cool. How do you know all this stuff?"

"Ninja basics." Sasuke said simply.

Naruto shuffled on his feet and gave Sasuke a sidelong glance. Thoughts were racing through his mind-muddled ones, because Naruto wasn't used to thinking methodically, but Sasuke was too..._different_...to not think about.

Sasuke knew ninja basics. Sasuke invited him to dinner. Sasuke lived even though his family didn't. (Just by looking at his house, Sasuke's family musta' been really big. Maybe he even had an extra set of parents or somethin'...) Sasuke didn't like orange. Sasuke beat him up-but! Sasuke said he was gonna make him was...no, he had to be...

...some secret super-duper Hokage training ninja who was too awesome to die.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said, eyes squinting. "You know a lotta stuff, don'cha?"

"Mm." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Are you really, really strong?"

"Hn."

"Stronger than Chouji? Than-than Kiba, even?"

"Hnn."

More sidelong glances. A moment of intense concentration that made Naruto look constipated, and then the final question:

"Are you _really _gonna make me Hokage?"

"If you're good enough," Sasuke replied, "Then you'll make it even without my help."

Naruto positively glowed until Sasuke's next words.

"If you're don't, then I'llkill you."

To anyone else, it sounded like a death threat. But Naruto heard a challenge-and everyone knew that Uzumaki Naruto always accepted challenges.

"Ha! You're on, Sasuke! I'm gonna be the _bestest _Hokage _**ever!**_"

Sasuke held out his hand. Naruto blinked, before giving his to the Uchiha, who shook it firmly. "It's a deal." _'Don't break your end of it, dead-last.'_

Naruto _beamed_. "Heck no, Sasuke! It's a promise! 'Cause I never break my promises!"

Sasuke just smirked and reveled in the _rightness _of the entire thing.

It was a refreshing feeling.

-ooo-

Afterwards, the two of them made their way to the kitchen, where Nemoto-san had set up dinner on the table. It looked _normal _enough-rice, vegetables, meat and soup-but Sasuke had enough experience with her cooking to be wary. He slid himself into an empty seat, Naruto copying the movement, and Nemoto-san joined them after bringing in a stack of napkins for the table.

"Everything okay?" Nemoto-san asked, glancing at Naruto.

"What? Oh, this thing?" Naruto touched his cheek. "Yeah, it's just a-I mean, s'all right." He quickly amended, shooting a furtive glance at Sasuke.

'_Not subtle at all,' _Sasuke mused, but at least Naruto hadn't blabbed outright that the bandage was a decoy exercise. "_Itadakimasu(4)," _he said absently, raising his chopsticks.

Naruto immediately did the same thing. Sasuke picked up a piece of meat to put in his bowl, and the blond copied his movements. Nemoto-san went for the vegetables first. For a few minutes, there was nothing but the sound of chopsticks clinking against porcelain as the three of them ate in silence.

It was...awkward. Sasuke could sense that the blond was nervous, hesitant, even. Most likely this was Naruto's first time eating with anyone other than Iruka or the old man at his favorite ramen shop. Judging by the reactions he'd saw from the villagers yesterday to the blond, he wasn't popular dinner company. And Nemoto-san-well, who knew what she thought of him? Naruto had no reason to be sure that she didn't hate him as much as anyone else, even if she wasn't outright hostile.

The woman seemed to be focused on her bowl, but Sasuke suspected that she was paying attention to everything happening at the table. Che. An ANBU scout outside the Compound, and (most likely) a ninja spy inside it as well? He really was being spoiled by attention. Did the Hokage do this in his original past, too? He couldn't be sure-his previous nannies had switched every few weeks, when he'd lost patience with them or scared them away-until the Hokage had finally conceded to leave him alone in peace. But all of them felt too inconsistent, clumsy, or _timid _to have been ninja in disguise.

"Have some vegetables," Nemoto-san offered, using her chopsticks to portion a dish into Naruto's plate. The blond looked up suddenly, half-disbelieving the gesture, but nodded mutely and slightly-ever so slightly-cracked a tiny, uncertain smile.

A tiny action like that showed acceptance, and Naruto was overwhelmed by it, even as Sasuke mentally frowned. Nemoto-san was too...bland. Balanced, poised, unfailingly blasé in her interactions. She acted too polished to pass for a civilian, too easily accepted Naruto-and all adult residents of Konoha _knew _who Naruto was, if they had lived here long enough. Not many liked him. But the Hokage wouldn't randomly assign some clueless, newly immigrated resident he didn't trust (civilian or otherwise) to babysit Sasuke.

Which left two questions: who was she really, and what was she doing here?

He suspected that his post-coma talk with the Sandaime had raised more suspicions that he intended. That was...annoying. And now that he had actively gone out of his way to seek and befriend Naruto, resident demon-container...well, that would definitely cement some extra attention from the leader of Konoha.

So he had been placed under a watch of sorts, to monitor his movements and activities-a watch that he could see being extended, now that he'd taken Naruto under his wing.

Well, let them watch all they want. He was going to blaze a new future, and nothing was going to stop that. Especially when he was just as capable, if not better, at watching _them_.

"Enjoying your food, boys?" Nemoto-san asked.

Naruto nodded his head vigorously (_it wasn't as good as ramen and some parts tasted funny but hey! Somebody had taken the time to make something for him and that was pretty awesome!_), while Sasuke shot her a level look. "Too much salt."

"I'll make a note of that," Nemoto-san said mildly. Sasuke doubted it'd help.

After that, things started to pick up. While Sasuke stayed silent, Nemoto-san would subtly probe Naruto with random questions about his life, hobbies, and dislikes. The blond, once he got over the fact that there _were _other Konoha adults who could talk to him without snarling or flinching, was very willing to share.

He lived by himself-that Sasuke knew already-but he got lunches made by the landlord's wife everyday, though they were a lot less tasty than Nemoto-neesan's cooking-but oh, that was okay because the landlord's wife was probably too busy to flavor things anyways, and he always had ramen on hand when things got too predictable.

'_Too busy or unwilling?' _Sasuke wondered, eyes narrowing.

Naruto was surprisingly mature for an eight-year-old. He looked after his apartment, cooked his own breakfasts and dinners, had a trio of potted plants (with names) on the window ledge, and a monthly orphan stipend-plus bonuses, on account of his age-to support himself. The Hokage visited him personally (a fact that Naruto was immensely proud of) and took him out to Ichiraku's whenever he had the time, which was every couple of months. Naruto was full of praise bordering on reverence for Teuchi-san and his ramen. Other times, he spent training, pranking, or occasionally hanging out with Iruka-sensei. Sometimes he'd play with his friends too, like Kiba or Chouji, but most of the time he was on his own.

He seemed happy, but Sasuke couldn't help thinking how much time Naruto spent alone, or how he glossed over certain parts in his narrative that hinted at less-than-friendly encounters with local civilians. It had to be lonely-and boring. No wonder the blond spent so much time on attention-grabbing pranks.

By the time they had finished eating and Nemoto-san was clearing up the plates, Sasuke had a pretty good profile of his blond teammate's life and habits. Which-as he glanced at Nemoto-san-was probably exactly what the woman was aiming for. Observe your target by learning more about them-and if they were stubbornly mute like Sasuke, then through the people they stuck around with.

When Nemoto-san went to wash the dishes, declining all offers of help with a plastered smile, Naruto was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, wondering what to do next. He glanced at Sasuke, who had been quiet all through the meal, and shifted on his feet.

"So, uh...thank you. For dinner, I mean." The blond rubbed the back of his head. "It...ah, it was nice."

Sasuke shrugged. "Hn. How's your accuracy?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. He'd been saying that a lot.

"It's still early," Sasuke explained. "We can work on target practice in my dojo. Unless you're busy."

Naruto's smile was bright enough to eclipse the sun.

-ooo-

After exiting the Uchiha Compound, Iruka made a beeline for the academy. With all this business of ninja nannies and sudden friendship with Naruto, it'd be helpful to understand Sasuke better. With his class notes off at who-knows-where, and the boy himself loath to speak, his sources were severely limited.

So it was that Iruka found himself heading for Funeno Daikoku's_(5)_ office at six o'clock in the evening. Like all of the other ninja, Daikoku had been subject to performance evaluations after the Uchiha Massacre, but his evaluation had only ended recently. The poor guy had been stuck at the office for the past few days, catching up on missed lesson plans, and tonight was no exception.

Iruka knocked on the door and was greeted by a gruff "Come in!" He entered. Daikoku, absorbed in paperwork, didn't even bother looking up from his desk.

"Whatever it is, make it short," the man barked. "I've got tons of crap to do and precious little time to do it."

"I'm guessing you haven't had dinner yet," Iruka said mildly.

"No." A snort, before Daikoku glanced up. "Umino." He didn't sound surprised.

"Looks like you could use a break," Iruka observed. "Why don't we go out to eat? My treat."

Daikoku's expression darkened. "Oh no, Umino. I've been eating cup noodles for the past three days. Not everyone loves ramen as much as you do."

"I didn't say we had to go to _Ichiraku's_," Iruka frowned. Was his obsession with ramen that exaggerated? Naruto easily ate three times as much in single sitting! "You can pick the place."

Daikoku raised an eyebrow, but finally conceded as he looked at the discouraging pile of paperwork. "Fine."

-ooo-

Some time later, when the two of were seated at a table sipping Shushuya's famous _sake_, Daikoku broke the silence.

"All right, Umino. Spill it," the harried instructor growled. "What do you want?"

Iruka carefully set down his cup. "Information. On one of your former students."

Daikoku cursed. "That brat out of the hospital yet?"

"Just came back to class today," Iruka replied.

Daikoku cursed some more, before fixing Iruka with a glare. "Look Umino, I swear-if this is some sort of setup by the Council, I ain't playing along, you got it? Just because I taught a Uchiha doesn't mean I knew what was going on in his head-"

He stopped speaking to regard Iruka with a suspicious look.

"I am just concerned about the wellbeing of my student," Iruka said calmly. He felt sorry for Daikoku. The poor guy had probably been harassed within an inch of his life for being Itachi's former academy teacher. He had an inkling of T & I's methods-investigating every possible link was standard protocol.

When Daikoku still didn't reply, Iruka continued speaking. "Sasuke's only eight, Funeno-san, and he's lost everything that's ever mattered to him. I can't make him talk, but I can try to understand him. And you're the only link I've got to his family."

"I never asked for it," Daikoku snarled, then softer, "I never wanted things to turn out…like this."

Daikoku had always been fiercely proud of Itachi, even if he didn't say it outright, and the Uchiha's betrayal was an obvious sore spot for the man.

"Neither did any of us," Iruka spoke, noting the strong smell of liquor on the man's breath. If Daikoku wasn't drunk yet, he was getting close after downing cup after cup of alcohol since they entered the restaurant. "None of us could have known-"

_**Bang!**_

Iruka paused as Daikoku slammed his fist on the table. Never mind. The man was already drunk.

"Don't fool with me." Daikoku's face was a livid red, and his goatee shook with every word. Iruka chanced a glance around-luckily, they were in a corner, and it was too early for most of Shushuya's customers to show up yet, but if Daikoku got too loud…well, Iruka _really _wasn't in the mood to lug back an knocked-out man nearly twice his weight.

"You're all idiots…putting your freakin' geniuses on a pedestal…" Daikoku slurred, staring at a section of wall next to Iruka's head. "Like they don't have feelings or brains of their own…he's only 13, for _Kami's _sake…making him part of ANBU…what could he say? What could he do? There was nowhere else…nobody else? Haha…heh...don't screw with me… "

"Funeno-san," Iruka began again.

"Shut up," Daikoku snapped. "You…listen to me. He was a good kid. Cold….genius…whatever you bastards label your weapons…he was. A. Good. Kid. If Itachi killed the wrong people…it's because you idiots killed him first… Itachi, he-he never would have…"

The words trailed off into nothingness as Daikoku's head met the table with a sound thwack. Iruka waited, but the silence continued. The academy teacher was out cold. Looks like he'd have to drag the man home after all.

But more importantly, he'd heard enough things to raise questions in his head. Uchiha Itachi, mass murderer and…a 'good kid'? He didn't know much about Daikoku, but he knew the man had a knack for analyzing students. His predictions about Sasuke's brilliance had been spot-on, and he'd helped quite a few failures in academy history to become competent ninja by overcoming personal problems. (Though Iruka had qualms about Daikoku's latest project-it involved some kid who couldn't even mold chakra properly_(6)_, but Daikoku was thinking of finding him a special teacher before the massacre disrupted things.)

Heck, Iruka would have introduced Naruto to the man if not for the fact that Daikoku nursed a stubborn grudge against the Nine-tails for killing his wife and child. The man didn't blame Naruto personally, but seeing the blond kid just made him wince inside. And Iruka didn't know him well enough to force the issue.

Well, whatever the case, it looked like he'd just have to ask Daikoku more questions after he was sober.

"Sir, more _sake?_" a waitress asked as she came around with a bottle.

Iruka shook his head. "Actually, I'd just like the bill, please."

-ooo-

It was pretty dark by the time Naruto bid good-bye to Sasuke at the gates to the Uchiha Compound. Target practice had been helpful-he'd gotten two out of ten kunai to hit consistently, and one even got close to a bull's eye once!

'Course, Sasuke had managed to hit all of them consistently and gotten 'bout ten times as many bull's eyes as Naruto missed, but still...Sasuke was training him to be Hokage. He _had _to be good. 'Least, that was his thinking.

It was weird, but seeing Sasuke do better didn't frustrate Naruto than it would have if it was...say, Kiba doing the throwing. Sasuke was _good_, but he didn't brag about it, and gave Naruto plenty of pointers when he asked.

Not that he was all together nice. The one time Naruto had missed and nearly hit Sasuke's eye, the boy had immediately retaliated with three kunai to pin Naruto in place without batting an eyelash.

He scooted to increase the distance between them afterwards, just in case.

All in all, it had been a good evening, made even better by the fact that Nemoto-neesan had given him _his own bento _for tomorrow's lunch. A real bento-wrapped in pretty cloth an' everything. _Orange _cloth, even! Sasuke had given it a dubious glance, but Naruto had felt so warm and glad inside that he could've burst with happiness. Then Sasuke had asked him to come by tomorrow, if he had time-and Naruto really _had _burst, with an exclamation of certainty that was pure, concentrated joy.

-ooo-

As Sasuke watched Naruto skip towards home, he couldn't help but notice one of the two chakra signatures in the trees move to follow the blond. The other one waited until Sasuke entered the Uchiha Compound before disappearing-probably body flickered away to make a report. No sense watching a stationery target.

A hand came down onto his shoulder, and Sasuke twitched, before realizing it was Nemoto-san. The woman was looking at him with a too-cheerful smile.

"Naruto-kun seemed happy," she said. "Are you helping him train?"

'_Nosy woman,' _Sasuke inwardly grimaced, but recognized the need to clarify information before she made any assumptions. Avoiding a conversation would just be more suspicious. "Just giving pointers."

"That's very kind of you." _'What are you up to?'_

'_None of your business.' _Sasuke shrugged. "I talk. He listens."

Nemoto-san made a 'hm' deep in her throat. "I hear that he wants to be the next Hokage. A big goal for an Academy student."

"It's not impossible."

"Perhaps not for you, Sasuke-kun. You're the top student. But Naruto-kun..."

"You don't think he can make it."

"It seems like it'd be very hard for him."

"You're naïve, then," Sasuke said, voice cold.

"You seem very confident in Naruto-kun."

"Che," Sasuke said, shaking off her hand. "I have work to make up." And he left her in the courtyard, staring after him with an unreadable expression.

'_Uchiha Sasuke,' _the woman called Nemoto-san mused to herself. _'What a puzzling subject you are.'_

-ooo-

"Hokage-sama has assigned another ANBU to watch the target undercover."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow. "How deep undercover?" he asked.

"She is currently acting as a caretaker of the target." Raccoon replied. "I was advised not to interfere."

Was this what the Sandaime meant by saying he'd take care of things? Undoubtedly, having a pair of eyes inside the Compound would be far more helpful. Ibiki thought as he nodded. "I see. Keep to the parameters of your mission." That shouldn't interfere with anything the Sandaime had in mind.

Raccoon nodded and disappeared in a poof as Ibiki bent down to more Police Corp documents.

_Kami, _he really hated paperwork.

-ooo-

_(1)'masks' - _ Just a codeword for ANBU. Ninjas don't go around parading their covers, even in their own village.

_(2)'Remnant' – _Codename for Sasuke, since he's the last remnant of the Uchiha clan. Bodyguards use codenames for their clients, so ANBU might as well too. XD

_(3)'...yet still bandage-free' _– Actually, Naruto _did _get tons of bandages after his fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End...but canon!Sasuke didn't stick around to see, thus his conclusion here.

_(4)'Itadakimau' – _Gratutious Japanese. XP Traditionally said at the beginning of a meal, meaning "let's eat".

_(5)Funeno Daikoku _– Surname first, so his given name's Daikoku. Yes, he really exists in canon as Itachi's former academy teacher. Technically a minor character, but I love putting them in since you get to fiddle more with their thought processes/history/personality. Ha, maybe he'll be important later, maybe not. Who knows?

_(6)'some kid who couldn't even mold chakra properly…' _– Why yes, my astute reader, this _is_ who you think it is. How else would he have stayed enrolled for so long without being expelled before ***-sensei discovered him? Still, Daikoku's interference is pure fanon on my part, just because I can. :p

**A/N: **Hey! It's been a little over a year, hasn't it? You guys still alive out there? Haha. Looks like in the time I've been gone, new things have overtaken the Naruto fanfiction-verse. Current trend seems to be revolving around Self-Insert fics-and some of them are pretty good too. (*cough* _Dreaming of Sunshine _by **Silver Queen, ***cough*) Something to read while you guys wait another year for the next chapter.

So...the plot inches forward (sort of), lots of people think a lot, and the day finally winds to a close. When are things finally going to start happening, you ask? They'll do when they do. In the meantime, just go with the flow.


	5. bonds, reforged

_**Perfect Vision**_

**Disclaimer: **Owning _Naruto _would mean I actually had to _work _at this stuff. Lethargy and effort? Nah, they don't mix at all. XD

-ooo-

**chapter 04: bonds, reforged**

-ooo-

_Voices. So many of them. Disbelieving. Accusatory. Vengeful. _

"_How could you?"_

"_You betrayed the Leaf, just like your brother!"_

"_Traitor! We'll never forgive you!"_

"_Die!"_

_They're threatened him, oh yes, plenty of times. But in the end, everyone who tried to kill him had been so __**weak**__._

_His destruction of Konoha had been quick and thorough. By that time, few ninja were on par with his skills. Orochimaru was dead, Pain was gone, Kabuto too indifferent to interfere with his plans…and with Itachi's eyes implanted into him, he could use the Mangekyo Sharingan without penalty—or mercy._

''_Do you see this, brother?' Sasuke thought, standing on the defaced remains of the Hokage Monument. 'Konoha is burning. The Will of Fire is dead.'_

_He'd finally succeeded in his revenge on the village, but all it did was leave a taste of bitter ashes in his mouth._

"—suke-kun—time to—up..."

With difficulty, Sasuke felt himself pulling out of his dream. He'd slept heavily—too deep for comfort. And who was that voice? He didn't recognize it.

'_Enemy.' _his mind decided.

There was the sound of wood sliding on wood before the person spoke again, louder this time.

"Sas—"

Only half-conscious, Sasuke grabbed the kunai stashed beneath his pillow and flung it at the sound.

Something _shattered _as the weapon made contact, sending shards of porcelain and bright, sparkling liquid exploding in different directions—but Sasuke was already on his feet, using chakra to reach the opposite end of the room as he checked his supplies—_where the h*ll were his weapons?_ _Why was he wearing_ _**pajamas**__?_ _And how did he end up sleeping indoors, not camped in the outskirts of Konoha..._

Pause.

Sasuke mentally cursed as the familiar surroundings of his old room in the Uchiha Compound dawned on his senses. He'd forgotten. Again. Years of ambushes had ingrained his instincts to attack first, ask questions later.

And he had thrown to kill.

He glanced at the ground, seeing a bamboo tray, the remains of a bowl, and splatters of miso soup. The sliding door to his room was halfway open, and beyond it, in the hallway, was the muffled, pulsing chakra signature of _that _woman. He probed further, confirming she was alive and breathing, before exhaling a breath of his own.

'_Note to Self: set a perimeter next time. Maybe use trip-wires and a chakra-sensing seal. Or I could switch rooms every night. The Compound is big enough for that trick.'_

It was both a blessing and a curse that he was still getting used to this body. He tired more easily, true—the self-sparring session in the dojo, combined with nights reading clan scrolls and tutoring Naruto, had taken a toll on his eight-year-old frame. Last night he'd gone to bed and promptly knocked out. But luckily, his throw had been too slow and weak to kill his ninja-nanny-in-disguise.

"That was quite a greeting, Sasuke-kun." Nemoto-san's monotone had a cautious veneer as she entered. True to ninja form, her entire body was poised to anticipate attack.

"I don't like being woken up." Sasuke deadpanned.

"I see. Well, school's starting soon," Nemoto-san said. "Did you have a bad dream? Maybe you'd like to stay home today?"

Sasuke shook his head. "It's fine."

For someone who'd just dodged a flying kunai, she was way too calm and collected. This was ridiculous. Were they _trying _to have him notice that Nemoto-san was abnormal? All right, maybe a real eight-year-old wouldn't have picked up half the details he did about her behavior, but if this was some ploy of the Hokage, he wasn't taking the bait. After a lifetime of being twisted and used by lies and liars, he was an expert at the game.

If she was going to act nonchalant, then so could he.

He glanced at the clock by the bed (he'd deactivated the alarm the first night, knowing that he'd smash it if it rang in his sleep), noting that there was less than twenty minutes before class.

"I'll buy some food on the way to the Academy," Sasuke muttered, turning to grab a towel.

"There's more soup in the kitchen," Nemoto-san replied, gathering pieces of porcelain and placing them on the tray. "And I made rice balls, too."

The memory of yesterday's lumpy breakfast rose in Sasuke's mind and he grimaced as he wiped up the spilled soup. "I'll pass."

"You don't have to be so polite, Sasuke-kun," Nemoto-san sing-songed. "If there's something wrong with my cooking, you can just say it outright."

'_Yeah, like if you're trying to poison me with salt.' _ Sasuke thought darkly, but kept his mouth shut.

"Since the Sandaime told me to look after you, we'll be seeing each other for a while," Nemoto-san continued. "It'll be nice if we knew each other better, hmm?"

Sasuke frowned. "How long will you be here?"

"As long as it seems necessary."

Which, of course, could range anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. And he did not want this woman—this _stranger_—lurking around like a second shadow. Sasuke straightened up, noting Nemoto-san's smile. It was a little _too _friendly, and said something to the effect of: '_Cross the line and I'll mark you as an imposter. Act like the child you're __**supposed **__to be and life will be easier for everyone. Assuming we don't think you're lying.'_

In that case, then...

"Less salt."

"Excuse me?"

"Your cooking. Use less salt." Sasuke said. "And more tomatoes. For everything."

"Very well." Nemoto-san's face eased into a more natural expression. "There now, that wasn't so hard, was it? Sasuke-kun."

-ooo-

There really wasn't much time left after Sasuke washed up and got dressed. He brushed off more offers of breakfast and hurried out before Nemoto-san could stop him.

Already, he had mapped out the quickest route to school that would also pass through the marketplace, where morning vendors sold their wares. He ordered two steamed buns at a random stall, paid in cash—and got delayed when the vendor tried to make small talk and ruffle his hair.

(_"Aww, buying breakfast before school? That's so grown-up! I'll make sure to find you some extra-big ones!")_

Sasuke reminded himself that no, he couldn't attempt murder with an ANBU spying on him, and managed to snatch his order before the lady pinched his cheeks.

Ugh.

Of course, by then he only had five minutes left, and normal walking wasn't going to cut it. Neither was running, unless he gave himself a chakra boost.

Well, why not?

It was a ninja village—there was nothing strange in hyperspeed travel. The Uchiha were naturally fast ninja, and Sasuke could reach the Academy in less than 30 seconds with his current skills. Ah, but the ANBU was sticking to him like a particularly hungry mosquito, and he was only a weak and helpless academy student.

Fine, he'd slow down. Getting there under a minute was pushing it—but under two should be fine. He needed to practice enhancing his reserves and chakra control, anyways. And if ANBU-san didn't react fast enough to catch up—well, his loss.

-ooo-

It was turning out to be a trying morning for Daikoku's nerves. First, he'd woken up sometime before dawn with a massive headache and a vague idea of his surroundings. Then the urge to vomit had come upon him, and he'd rolled off the couch—the one in his own living room, he realized absently—before stumbling off in what he hoped was the way to the restroom.

He would have made it too, if he hadn't tripped over a pile of discarded junk on the ground in the dark. Dang it.

He made it to the restroom afterwards to clean up, and that's where he found Iruka's oh-so-cheerful note stuck on the mirror—

'_Sorry we had to cut our conversation short, hope to talk with you again sometime, blah blah blah, by the way, I had to pick your lock to get you inside, so you might want to look into replacing it'_

—which, naturally, brought back fuzzy memories of drinking too much and spilling whatever was on his mind about his former student.

He'd lost control of his emotions again. There was a reason why a man like him never made it past Chuunin. His Jounin sensei had called him out on it, years and years ago, but Daikoku had brushed him off with all the hotheaded rashness of boyhood. Then that same sensei had died on a mission during the war protecting his sorry arse because he was an idiot.

The same thing happened eight years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked. Instead of rushing to the front lines, he'd ran home first, to make sure his wife and daughter were all right. And then got caught up in last-minute farewells that lasted too long, so when he finally left them, they were too slow to avoid the poisonous red chakra that flooded the residential districts and burned every living thing in its wake. Even now, Daikoku couldn't look at the boy he knew to be the demon's container without some measure of anger. Not towards the boy—but himself—and his own faults for his family's death.

And last night? What exactly had he said? Knowing his pride in his former student, probably nothing but praise and support for Itachi—support for an officially classified S-rank missing-nin. Borderline traitorous thoughts. Daikoku figured the only reason he wasn't _back _in the interrogation room was that Iruka knew when to have selective hearing.

His whole life had been cursed by flaws that had led to failures—so it'd been a relief when he'd been offered a transfer to the Academy. Teaching students, helping them to grow into better ninja—that had meaning. It was something he felt he owed to Konoha, to his family...and himself.

Though Itachi's defection was raising his doubts about teaching too.

And so, lost in his thoughts and recovering from a hangover, it was only natural that Daikoku, standing before the Academy doors, never noticed the dust and debris accompanying the dark blue blur careening towards him at breakneck pace.

-ooo-

'_Crap_—_' _was Sasuke's first thought when he realized that the Academy instructor _wasn't _moving out of the way like all good ninja were trained to do.

So much for speeding all the way to the classroom. Mentally calculating the distance before impact, Sasuke reached for his chakra and _tugged_—cutting the boost to his legs, and channeling excess through the soles of his feet to form a sort of chakra anchor that dragged him backwards to slow him down.

Then he stopped running altogether, and twisted his body sideways, gliding with chakra beneath his feet to skid to a stop just a foot away from the man, showering him with a minor dust cloud.

Sasuke wobbled a bit as he found his footing, and made a mental note to fine-tune that little trick. Losing balance was deadly in a fight. He glanced at the instructor, who was staring at him with unusual intensity.

"You…" the man sputtered. "It..."

It felt wise to a make a quick exit. Sasuke bowed his head in a non-verbal _'excuse me, sensei' _and quickly slipped past the man into the school building.

-ooo-

When Daikoku finally realized someone was tearing straight at him, it was too late to react. Luckily, the blur stopped before anyone got hurt. But when the dust settled enough for Daikoku to berate the rascal, words stuck in his throat.

Black hair, black eyes, porcelain skin and a high-collared shirt...instantly, Daikoku's mind flashed back to a certain student with the exact same characteristics.

The boy paused to give him a once-over, face stiffening ever so slightly when he noticed Daikoku staring at him.

Oh, how he remembered Itachi's minute expressions. You wouldn't believe the Uchiha had any feelings at all unless you trained yourself to look. There was a certain way he tilted his eyebrow—scarcely more than a centimeter, but enough to convey every emotion between pleased surprise and deep disgust.

"You..." Daikoku finally sputtered. "It..." _'You're him. Itachi's little brother.'_

The sentence never came, and Daikoku could only stare as Sasuke gave him a brief nod and went on his way.

Itachi used to do that, too—clan pride had trained all its members to show stiff necks to the rest of the world. But Daikoku had known it for what it was—standard Uchiha methods of speech towards non-clan members.

It _hurt, _to remember again. _D*mn_ but did it hurt. Where had he gone wrong? And what could he do to make sure it didn't happen again? He felt useless—no, worse than that, because Sasuke wasn't even in his class and he'd done nothing when news of the massacre came out and shook Konoha to its foundations.

Useless. So useless...

"Dai-sensei!"

A new voice shook Daikoku out of his stupor. Actually, it wasn't the voice, but a small hand tugging at his dusty vest.

"Are you okay?"

He looked down at its owner, a small boy in a white mandarin jacket, staring at him with impossibly round, worried eyes. Daikoku cracked a smile as he ruffled the boy's hair. "Heh. Everything's fine, Lee-kun."

Nine-year-old Rock Lee looked skeptical. "He didn't hurt you, then?"

"It's going to take more than an Academy student to defeat me."

Lee broke into a small smile. "I knew it! Dai-sensei is _sensei, _after all!"

"That's right, kiddo," Daikoku nodded as he dusted himself off. "Did your homework?"

"Yosh, Dai-sensei!" Rock Lee nodded vigorously, his long braid bouncing up and down. "I had to erase my mistakes many times, but I did not give up until I finished! Even though it was past dinnertime!"

"Great job. Now run to class before you're late."

Nodding furiously, Rock Lee sped off, while Daikoku looked after him thoughtfully.

The poor kid couldn't even mold chakra but worked harder than anyone else in his class. What right did he have, as an instructor, to give up when a nine-year-old could keep on trying?

He'd gotten whispers from the other teachers, telling him that Rock Lee should be taken out, transferred to the civilian academy perhaps—lazy, self-righteous crap from people who refused to acknowledge the kid's sheer determination to be a ninja.

Well, Daikoku wasn't sending him anywhere. _Someone _out there had to have something that would help the kid out. There was still time before graduation. Chuunin, Jounin, or Special Jounin—he'd just have to look harder, that's all. And as for Uchiha Sasuke...

"One problem at a time." Daikoku muttered, and tried to believe that he wasn't just making excuses.

-ooo-

There was some sort of commotion going on in the classroom when Sasuke entered. Crowded by the teacher's desk were a group of students—mostly civilians, Sasuke noted, with the exception of Kiba on one side and Hinata hanging in the background, looking like she dearly wanted to help. In the center stood Naruto, face scrunched up in a furious expression.

"Yeah, right!" a brown-hair boy was sneering, "Like we'd believe that! You never wear anything but orange!"

"He probably _stole _it!" another boy piped up. A titter of horrified "_ooooohs!" _rippled through the crowd, and Sasuke suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"M'_not _lying!" Naruto was close to yelling. "I got it from—someone _gave_ it to me!"

"Yeah, the idiot's too dumb to steal anything!" Kiba piped in less-than-helpfully.

"Who gave it to you?" Brown Hair demanded, tugging on Naruto's shirt.

It was then that Sasuke noticed that Naruto was wearing the blue shirt from yesterday—Nemoto-san had taken Naruto's things to wash, and they were still drying when the blond went home last night.

"A friend!" Naruto shouted.

"Ha! Who'd wanna be _your _friend?" Brown Hair sneered, jerking harder on the shirt. In the background, Hinata drew in a sharp breath and flicked a quietly furious glance at Brown Hair. Sasuke mentally snorted.

'_Way to antagonize a clan heiress.'_

Naruto growled and pushed him away. "I've got _lotsa_ 'em!"

"My dad says you're just a good-for-nothin' nobody. He doesn't want me to be your friend_, _and neither would anyone else!" Brown Hair folded his arms, shooting a smug glance at his peers.

"Che, who cares about your dad!" Kiba shot back. "Naruto's plenty good as _my _friend, even if he's stupid!"

"_M'no_t stupid, dog breath!" Naruto shot back, though there was a palpable relief in his eyes. He'd turned around while speaking, revealing a strip of white bandage on one cheek. Another relic from last night.

It was like a mini diplomacy lesson. On the one side were the civilians, whose inherent prejudice towards the Nine-tails vessel had trickled down to their children. On the other side were the ninja clans, whose members held mute respect for the Fourth's sacrifice. Sasuke's eyes swept the classroom. While the civilian children were all chatting in minute whispers, the future Rookie Nine were more subdued. Chouji was casting worried glances at the crowd while trying to poke awake a snoring Shikamaru. Ino was making indignant faces at Brown Hair, Sakura looking nervous and confused at her side. Shino was sitting straight up, silent as usual. His expression was unreadable behind his glasses.

"All right, I'll believe you," Brown Hair suddenly spoke up. "If you can prove you didn't steal that shirt."

"I _said, _someone gave it to me!" Naruto insisted.

"_Who_?" Brown Hair demanded. In response, the blond grit his teeth and stayed stubbornly silent. Sasuke wondered why Naruto just didn't tell them. He hadn't swore the blond to secrecy over something as trifling as borrowing a shirt. Meanwhile, Brown Hair's eyes glinted in triumph.

"_Ha! _I _knew _it! You _were _lying 'bout—"

The next second, Brown Hair was rolling on the ground, clutching his knee and _howling_, and Sasuke had taken his place in the half-circle surrounding Naruto. General confusion rose until Sasuke spoke.

"Hey."

"What the—"

"When did he—"

"What happened to—"

Sasuke ignored the confusion rising through the crowd.

"Eh? Sasuke?" Naruto blinked. "Where'dya come from?"

"I was here the whole time," Sasuke said. _'More or less, anyways.'_

"Y-you kicked me!" Brown Hair snarled, pointing at Sasuke.

"I didn't." Sasuke said.

As a matter of fact, he'd just used lightning chakra to shock some tendons while increasing the sensitivity of certain nerves, like the pain receptors. It was another test of chakra control—and again, he found it lacking. Sasuke had meant to paralyze the entire leg. Oh well.

"Yes you did!" Brown Hair shouted, clutching his knee. "Gah…it hurts…"

"Prove it, then," Sasuke said calmly. "That I kicked you. Did anyone see me do it?" He looked at the crowd. No one spoke.

"It _was _you!"

Sasuke just shrugged. "Words are worthless if you can't back them up."

"You—!"

"Oh, and Uzumaki," Sasuke continued, ignoring the other boy as he pulled out a parcel from his bag. "I brought your clothes. They dried overnight."

Naruto accepted the package with a grateful look as more whispers went through the crowd.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Brown Hair clutched at the arms of his classmates to stand up. "What do you mean, you—"

The next second, he was rolling on the ground, clutching his stomach and laughing uncontrollably. The crowd gingerly edged away.

"_..._I think Mochida-kun's gone nutty!" a girl whispered to her friend, staring at the boy.

"I always thought he was a weirdo," the friend sniffed, crossing her arms.

Huh. Sasuke didn't know hitting _that _nerve caused hysterics.

The bell rang then, and everyone started for the seats. A couple of students stayed behind to help up Mochida, who was trying to curse, laugh, and gasp for breath at the same time. Kiba hooted at their attempts.

Sasuke climbed the steps under the silent scrutiny of his classmates. Well, not completely silent—Ino and Sakura both seem about to explode with _something _to say—and oh _Kami, _were those sparkles floating around their heads? Wasn't eight too _young _an age to start fangirling?

Ino opened her mouth first, confirming his sense of impending doom. "Sas—"

"WHOA! THAT WAS WAY COOL, SASUKE!"

Something bright and oranged _bounced _towards him. Sasuke stepped to the side before Naruto could knock him over and watched as the blonde stumbled over the steps and nearly crashed headfirst into a desk. ('_Note to Self #2: Teach the dead-last coordination skills. Soon.')_

Ino was less than pleased at being interrupted. "Um, Sas—"

Naruto recovered, though, and was before Sasuke in a heartbeat. "Hey, hey! You _did _kick him, didn'ya? With, like, super speed an' stuff, right? Oh man! You _gotta _teach me!" He meant for it to be a conspiratorial whisper, and it would have worked if the blonde wasn't so darned _loud_.

Sasuke frowned. "Uzumaki. What did I tell you yesterday?"

Naruto was still bouncing. "Um. I dunno. Stuff?"

"What about _this?_" Sasuke pointed at the bandage on Naruto's cheek.

"My face?" Naruto looked down. "Uh, no. Wait, wait, the bandage? Uh…oh yeah!" the blonde hit one palm with a fist. "Pre…pretendin' an' stuff! To…to trick bad guys and…beat 'em up?"

"Yes." Sasuke gave Naruto a level stare, hoping he would understand. Taking advantage of distractions, then attacking the enemy…it was a basic maneuver, and Sasuke had just given him a brilliant example thirty seconds ago.

Naruto's face crumpled in intense thought for a few moments, before he burst forth triumphantly. "I GOT IT!"

That…was surprising. He understood quicker than Sasuke expected.

"YOU TRICKED HIM INTO THINKIN' YOU BEAT HIM UP!"

Or not.

There was still a long, long, _long_ way to go.

_Sigh._

"Sasuke-kun!" An impatient Ino started up from her seat. She reached for his arm. "You—"

Sasuke smoothly swapped with his classmate, so that Ino ended up grabbing Naruto's arm instead. The two blondes stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Geh—" Ino choked, turning red.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked owlishly. "Whatcha grabbin' me for, Ino?"

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT!" Ino shrieked as she let go of his arm.

"What did I—HEY! _M'NOT_ AN IDIOT!"

Sasuke sank into his seat and slowly massaged his temples. Why were children always so _loud?_

_**SLAM!**_

Everyone jumped as the door shut, revealing an irate Iruka.

"Hey now, what's all the commotion?" Iruka demanded. "You're disturbing the whole school! Naruto, I could heard you clear down the hall!"

"That's 'cause—"

"Never mind that now," Iruka put up a hand. "You two, back in your seats. Class is now in session."

"But she was—"

"Iruka-sensei, Naruto—"

"I said, CLASS IS NOW IN SESSION."

"Yes, Iruka-sensei," the two chorused, before shooting each other black looks.

-ooo-

Iruka was in top form that morning, and drilled them relentlessly. Naruto was a mess about his subjects, as usual, and got called out badly for it. Kiba was only slightly better. The two of them tried to get revenge by launching spitballs with Naruto's slingshot, but Iruka was sharp enough to send their projectiles straight back at them.

When it was time for _taijutsu _lessons again, the blonde was in a fine temper and literally stormed out of the room. Iruka just shook his head.

Sasuke, having make-up work to turn in, was one of the last students out. He placed his pile of papers on Iruka's desk just as Shikamaru shuffled out, slow as always.

"Homework, Sasuke?" Iruka gave him a friendly smile as he glanced at the pile before doing a double take. "You finished this much already?"

Sasuke just shrugged. Actually, he'd finished all of his make-up work last night after Naruto left, just to get it out of the way, but Iruka didn't need to know that. Ah, perhaps he overdid it a bit by turning in one-third instead of one-fourth of the work at one time?

Iruka was already flipping through the assignments, mumbling to himself. "But this is…I mean…we just covered this last week! Still, you've already…and these answers…they're very thorough…"

Maybe he should have turned it in chronologically too. Ah, but everything had been so mind-numbingly simple that he'd forgotten which topics were supposed to be the advanced levels for a first-year academy student. He'd made sure to put in some mistakes, though. No sense calling attention to his true mental age.

Eventually, Iruka shuffled the papers and gave Sasuke a very piercing look. "Sasuke, you've done exceptionally well. I was afraid you'd have trouble keeping up in class, but you've obviously studied these subjects before, am I right?"

Sasuke lowered his chin in a nod.

"Ah, that's good. That's very good," Iruka seemed distracted. "Then…I shouldn't keep you, go on to your _taijutsu _lesson. But no fighting 'til the hospital lifts its limit in two days, understand? We want you to be in perfect health first. Mizuki-sensei will make sure."

Sasuke nodded and left.

Iruka rescanned Sasuke's papers. The work was all done in neat, legible handwriting—though he could tell a few answers were wrong right off the bat. The boy was strong with logical thinking, and his wording was impeccable—truly signs of genius intellect. Still, the words from Nemoto-san last night stuck in his head, mixing with snippets of Daikoku's drunken ravings.

'_It doesn't matter why the Hokage sent someone to watch him. He's just a boy,' _Iruka decided.

'_And Kami help me if I ever suspect him of anything more than that.'_

-ooo-

The first year academy students had _taijutsu _lessons directly on the small, compact training grounds within the Academy. They weren't expected to do much or even fight—their bodies were too young and underdeveloped to benefit from concentrated physical training. Instead, there were simple exercise drills, stretches to improve flexibility, running, cartwheels, and (like yesterday) the occasional one-on-one 'spar' using standard Academy moves, strictly supervised by the teacher. Clan techniques like the Gentle Fist were still considered village secrets, and rarely seen in the Ninja Academy, which admitted any and all able-bodied, willing Konoha residents, civilian or otherwise.

As Sasuke entered the training grounds, the class was in the middle of warm-up stretches. The mild-mannered, blue-haired teacher directed him to sit on the side with Chouji, whose arm was in a cast from yesterday's spar-and-crash-into-a-tree-fiasco. Sasuke didn't mind—he wanted to observe and assess Naruto's abilities, anyways.

The Akimichi boy gave Sasuke a timid, but steady glance as he plopped onto the grass. He swallowed a few times, before saying quietly: "Hi."

"Hn." Sasuke kept his eyes on the class.

"Uh," Chouji swallowed again. "You…you did a good thing today."

Sasuke's eyes flickered over.

"Stopping Mochida, I mean," Chouji said quickly. "He…picks on people a lot."

Sasuke didn't reply, which made Chouji more uncomfortable. The chubby boy half-wondered if his classmate didn't think he was worth his time. Everyone knew he was big-boned, and plenty more teased him for it, too.

Still, he'd started this chat, so he might as well finish it. Chouji had his pride, too.

"Anyways, IwannathankyouforNaruto," Chouji babbled in a rush. "He…people should stick up for him more."

"For Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto's my friend. A good one. So, uh, yeah." Chouji nodded to reassure himself. "He's yours too, right?"

Friendship. First Umino, then the dead-last, and now the Akimichi too. Why was everyone wrapped up in such an artificial ideal? Friends were worth nothing. They might be entertaining, but they could also betray you at the most convenient opportunity—Sasuke should know, he was a living example.

'_But Naruto never betrayed you. Neither did Sakura_—_she tried to kill you, but couldn't do it in the end. And everyone was willing to take you back…until you threw the offer in their faces and screwed them over.'_

Stupid inner monologue.

'_Friendship breeds strength.' _Iruka's story from yesterday whispered into his consciousness.

No. No, it didn't. Being _friends _with each other didn't make the Konoha ninja live any longer before he killed them all. He stifled a bitter laugh. How ironic, to be sitting here in the very village he helped destroy, and getting offers to be _friends_. There was something seriously messed up about that.

'_It's the bonds you form with the people you know.'_

Bull. Sasuke wasn't taking any of that crap. His goal was to fix things so those who had to die could do it quickly. Meanwhile, _Tsukiyomi _his brother to find out why he played mind-games with Sasuke all those years. And maybe destroy Orochimaru's annoying village while dismantling some criminal organizations along the way.

Leading Naruto to Hokage-hood was the first step in consolidating strength for Sasuke's goals. And as for everyone else—he didn't care. Once everything was over, he was going to sic the Uchiha legacy on Itachi as revenge and retire as a recluse in the wilderness.

True peace, indeed.

"Uh…wanna eat lunch with us?" Chouji offered in the silence. "Shika knows a good place. Naruto'll prolly come, too."

Sasuke stayed mute, thoughts still swirling. He was using people for his own benefit. He never claimed to be anyone's friend—he didn't want or need any, except when it was convenient. The fastest way to success was to avoid emotions and reach for logic. Reason. Plans laid down with cold, rational, common sense.

Common sense told him that one more ally couldn't hurt the fight against his enemies.

So he nodded. And then took out his steamed buns, eating as he watched his classmates do relay runs around the grounds. No sense plotting on an empty stomach.

A few minutes later, the class began their practice drills and someone else joined them.

"Yo," Shikamaru said, and plopped on the grass next to Chouji, who was munching on a bag of chips.

"Aren't you supposed to be drillin', Shika?" Chouji asked between mouthfuls.

"Can't." Shikamaru grinned. "Got hurt."

"What? How?"

The lazy genius pointed at the sky with his finger. "Like this."

Chouji looked up, then at his friend. "What are you talking about?"

Shikamaru yawned. "No clouds today, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"So we're running. The sun's so bright I can't see and trip—_bam._" He slammed his palm against the ground. "I hit the dirt, right in front of your tree from yesterday, and get a face full of splinters."

Chouji's eyes whip to Shikamaru's face. "You—! The tree I knocked down?! But...but I don't see any splinters, Shika..."

"I took 'em out. They hurt, you know."

"I don't see any dirt or scars, either..."

"I washed 'em clean with my tears."

"You _cried, _Shikamaru?"

"Eh, Mizuki-sensei hates sissies. Easiest way to get outta his class."

Chouji heaved a sigh. "You're skipping _again."_

"Drills are a drag." Shikamaru drawled. "My mom's making me train after school anyways, so I need to save my strength."

He then turned to face Sasuke, one eye closed and a lazy grin on his face. "What's your excuse?"

"Hospital orders," Sasuke replied, still watching Naruto.

"Lucky."

Sasuke said nothing, so Chouji spoke up next.

"I asked Sasuke to eat lunch with us, Shika."

"Oh? That's nice. I wanted to ask about Mochida." Shikamaru said. "Neat trick, but I couldn't catch it."

"What trick?" Chouji asked. "I thought Sasuke kicked him."

"He didn't." Shikamaru said, closing both eyes. "The shadows would have moved, and I'd have noticed."

As a matter of fact, he'd been trying to figure out the best angle to subtly 'trip' Mochida and friends with his Shadow Manipulation before Sasuke stepped in.

"I thought you were sleeping the whole time…" Chouji muttered. "So what did he do?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Could've been anything." He glanced at Sasuke again, but the boy stayed mute. No explanations, then.

The Nara boy debated satisfying his curiosity by asking point-blank for an answer or trying to figure it out, decided that both took too much effort, and focused his attention skywards instead.

'_Still no clouds, huh?' _he mused. _'What a drag.'_

-ooo-

"An' _then, _Mizuki-sensei looked at me funny and told me to run four more laps!" Naruto growled, brandishing his chopsticks furiously. "All 'cause _snot-nose _pushed me into him!"

"By 'snot-nose', I'm guessing you mean Mochida," Shikamaru translated, munching thoughtfully on an onigiri.

"I always thought Mizuki-sensei was nice…" Chouji muttered between bites of his own deluxe-sized bento. "Telling you to run longer 'cause of a push sounds unfair."

"He wasn't mean 'bout it," Naruto admitted. "Just…weird." He couldn't place his finger on it, but the calm, quiet academy _taijutsu _instructor always had a way of looking at Naruto that bothered him.

Years of experience later, he'd remember the looks and redefine them as 'calculating'.

Meanwhile, the final member of their lunch group was eating in silence. Sasuke had joined their group without a fuss, but after everyone unpacked their lunches, he had fell into a brown study.

In the lull following Naruto's comment, Chouji and Shikamaru traded glances, the latter shrugging before the Akimichi found himself speaking up again.

"So…what's up, Naruto?" Chouji asked.

"Whatdya mean?" Naruto asked between bites of food.

"I thought you only wore orange," Chouji glanced pointedly at Naruto's blue shirt. "And how come there's a band-aid on your face?"

"Oh, that's 'cause Sasuke lent me a shirt," Naruto replied. "After I got dumped in paint—anyways, I went to his house yesterday, and we fought and stuff, and he almost killed me!"

"He tried to _kill _you?" Chouji choked, glancing at the mute Uchiha, who paid no attention.

"Yea, it was a stupid test or somethin'," Naruto scowled. Remembering how he was so _chicken _yesterday stung, now that the fear of Sasuke's killing intent had faded away. "'Neways, s'no big deal now, 'cause he's gonna make me Hokage and—"

"Hahahahaha! Hokage? What a joke! _You _can't be Hokage, not in a million years!"

Naruto broke off to growl at the newcomer. "What do _you _know, dog-breath?"

Kiba sauntered up to the group and squatted on the ground, holding a chicken drumstick in one hand. "I know that you _suck, _loser."

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Nun-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Un-uh!"

"Yo, Uchiha," Kiba said, finally breaking off. "You really helpin' the dead last?"

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow as if to say, '_And what if I am?'_

"Huh." Kiba snorted. "Guess he _does _need it…"

Naruto bristled. "Hey! Whatdya mean—"

"Uchiha Sasuke! Fight me now!"

All heads look up as Mochida came stomping into the scene, faithful lackeys in tow.

"Ah, right," Kiba scratched his head. "Forgot to tell you guys that the gigglin' pansy boy was coming."

"Shut up!" Mochida spat, before pointing a finger at Sasuke. "I don't know what you did this morning, but I'm gonna beat you up! So fight me!"

"No." Sasuke replied flatly.

Mochida's eyes widened in anger, before he smirked. "Oh yeah? You scared of me or somethin'?"

Sasuke gave him a passing glance. "…you wouldn't last five seconds. So, no."

A snarl was all Sasuke heard before a fist came barreling his way. But long before it connected, Naruto was standing up and blocking it with his hand.

"Leave Sasuke alone." the blond growled under his breath.

"Stay out of this, _demon,_" Mochida hissed. "I'm gonna beat you up right after I get your friend."

In response, Naruto _lunged _at the brunette, and was promptly buried by three lackeys jumping in to fend him off.

"Hey, don't hog all the fun!" Kiba said, tossing his finished drumstick to the side before joining the fray.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. _'For the love of—"_

"Shadow Binding Technique, complete."

It was instantaneous. One second, Naruto was pulling Mochida's hair and two other boys were punching his undefended sides, while Kiba was biting the shoulder of the third lackey with almost maniacal glee.

The next second, all five boys were frozen in place by Shikamaru's shadow manipulation, collapsing in a heap on the ground.

"Look, it's lunchtime," Shikamaru said, hands in a seal. "Can't we all just get along?"

"Aw, come on, it was just gettin' fun!" Kiba whined.

"Lemme go, pineapple head!" Naruto yelled. "I'm not done with 'em yet!"

'_I'm having enough trouble holding you as is, Naruto,' _Shikamaru moaned internally. In fact, his control was already slipping with the blond's attempts to break his jutsu. _'What, does he have massive chakra reserves or something? I'm barely keeping him still!'_

The next second his hold _did _break, and Naruto tackled Mochida with an angry scream, throwing off his attackers into Kiba, who balked as he was buried under the combined weight of three people.

"What the heck, Naruto!" the Inuzuka groaned, pushing the trio out of his way. "Why d'ya do that for—"

He was cut off abruptly by a punch in the face, and growled as he kicked his attacker in the stomach.

Shikamaru was sprawling against the tree, breathless after using his meager chakra supply.

'_Ugh…that took more out of me than I thought it would,' _the boy thought, before paling. _'Aw, dang it! Mom's special training after school! I'm gonna __**die!**_'

And he knocked out quite willingly after that.

Meanwhile, the remaining two boys were making their way to Chouji and Sasuke, anger evident on their faces.

"You're gonna pay for that dirty trick ya did!" one cried, cracking his knuckles.

Chouji swallowed. His arm was still in a cast, which was already a disadvantage. Shikarmaru was, to all purposes, dead to the world, and Kiba and Naruto were busy with their own battles, which left just him and Sasuke to deal with their enemies.

'_But Sasuke's just come out of the hospital,' _Chouji realized. _'He's not supposed to fight yet!'_

Chouji turned an almost desperate glance at the black-haired boy. "Sasuke-kun, get the teacher! I'll…I'll try to hold them off!"

The Uchiha gave him an unreadable look as he processed those words.

"You gonna defend him with that arm of yours?" one of the boys mocked him. "Haha, what a loser!"

Chouji ignored them as best he could. "Go! Run!" he waved furiously at Sasuke with his good arm.

But instead of moving, Sasuke took steps _towards _Chouji and the two boys. One hand gripped Chouji's shoulder before firmly pushing the Akimichi behind him.

"You go." Sasuke said.

Chouji darted a glance between Sasuke and the two other, obviously bigger boys—it looked like Mochida had lackeys in the higher grades too. "I don't think that's a good idea, Sasuke."

The Uchiha paused, looking at him. And then, he did something utterly incomprehensible to Chouji.

He snorted.

"I…what…Sasuke?" Chouji blinked. Three pairs of dumbfounded eyes stared as the Uchiha snickered under his breath.

The next moment, something _blurred _before his vision, and when Chouji blinked again, Sasuke was standing three feet away, the bodies of the two bullies knocked out cold at his feet.

He gaped at the sight. Sasuke nudged one of the bodies with his feet before glancing at Chouji.

"Now you can go." He said quietly.

"Uh…right!" Chouji nodded, before running in the direction of the academy building. His mind was in a jumble. Had Sasuke really defeated the bullies just like that? He was so fast!

'_If he's this strong after coming out of the hospital, then what's his usual strength?!'_

-ooo-

There were advantages to being older than your years, even if you were stuck in a child's body. The benefits of experience, honed through years of warfare, had given Sasuke the knowledge to incapacitate his enemies in a variety of useful and creative ways.

So performing a knockout jab behind the skulls of two irritating brats was literally child's play to him.

As the Akimichi ran off to get help, Sasuke focused his attention back on the battlefield, where Kiba and Naruto were still fighting their opponents. Of the two, Kiba was doing marginally better, having been trained at a young age in Clan fighting techniques. Naruto, on the other hand…

He had the brute strength behind his attacks, but his movements were sloppy, and beyond that, anger was clouding his usual ability to strategize on the fly. Mochida was definitely taking advantage of this to score serious hits on the blond, who was fighting on through sheer adrenaline and stamina.

'_But,' _Sasuke mused, _'Stamina doesn't necessarily guarantee a victory in taijutsu. All it takes is one hit in the right place and Naruto'll be out for the count.'_

As if to confirm his theory, Mochida delivered a vicious uppercut that sent the blond flying, where he crash-landed into a rock and slumped down to the ground, not moving. At the same time, Kiba headbutted his opponent a little _too _hard and the pair fell to the ground in a knocked-out heap. Sasuke was confident that they'd be fine—ninja bodies were built to take hits, after all—and walked towards the bloody, bruised Mochida instead. The latter gave him a glare before falling onto one knee, panting for breath. Sasuke stopped a few steps from him and considered his options before he spoke, voice laced with ice.

"And just what were you planning with that awful excuse of an ambush?"

Mochida scowled, until Sasuke grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"I really hate interfering idiots," Sasuke continued in a harsh whisper. "So I'd appreciate it if you _back off_."

Mochida squirmed, but held Sasuke's gaze. "You don't belong with 'em," he said in a petulant tone. "You're strong and they're all just weaklings. The dead-lasts!"

Sasuke gave a sardonic smile. "You're right."

In more ways than one. Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Naruto had regularly scored at the bottom of their academic classes. The triumphant light in Mochida's eyes, however, died out with Sasuke's next words.

"But you're wrong, too. Want to know why?"

Because none of that had _mattered _when they were out in the battlefield, fighting in the real world. Fighting to kill with every last breath.

"They're dead-lasts, but at least they're not _dead _like you."

Mochida's eyes widened as Sasuke's hands tightened against his throat and it suddenly became harder to breathe.

"What are you—urrgk!"

-ooo-

"Iruka-sensei!" Chouji gasped as he pounded on the door to the teachers' office. "Iruka-sensei, come quickly!"

Slurping down a mouthful of noodles, Iruka hurried to the panting Akimichi boy. "What's wrong, Chouji? Why are you in such a rush?"

He'd never seen the boy so strung up before.

"Mochida…fighting…took us on…Sasuke…"

Iruka's eyes narrowed. He looked back at his fellow teachers, all equally bewildered, until he found the man he was looking for.

"Funeno-san, could you accompany me for a second? Something happened, and I'd like your help."

To his relief, the man didn't refuse, and stood up to follow Iruka in one smooth motion. Iruka gave him a grateful look before turning back to Chouji.

"Lead us."

-ooo-

Chouji's group had chosen a secluded hillside to eat their lunch. It was one of Shikamaru's favorite cloud-watching spots when the weather permitted, and far enough from the academy to offer a semblance of privacy during lunch period. As Iruka and Daikoku followed the boy, they were momentarily bowed over by a sudden spike in killing intent in the air. Chouji wasn't so lucky—he fell to his knees immediately.

'_What was that?' _the two academy teachers traded worried glances, before Iruka hurried to his student's side.

"You all right, Chouji?" Iruka placed a steadying hand on the boy's shoulder and noticed that his entire frame was trembling.

"I…don't feel too well," Chouji admitted. Cold sweat had broken out on his brow.

"Leave him here, Umino," Daikoku said. "We can find the way ourselves."

"Try and go to the nurse, all right?" Iruka patted the boy one last time before running for dear life up the hill.

-ooo-

After mentally preparing themselves to expect the worse, the scene that greeted the two academy teachers was…anticlimactic.

They found Shikamaru first, lying against the tree in a dead faint but otherwise unharmed. Nearby were two students Iruka recognized from the older classes, knocked out cold. Further down the other side of the hill was Inuzuka Kiba and his opponent, unconscious on the grass. Beyond that was an ashen-faced Mochida—Daikoku was quick to check his pulse, but the boy was holding steady and aside from a few cuts and bruises, perfectly healthy. It was Iruka who personally made his way over to the rock at the bottom of the hill, where a newly woken Naruto was blinking dazedly at his surroundings.

"How are you feeling, Naruto-kun?" Iruka asked softly even as he looked over the boy's injuries—strange to say, there weren't many that he could see, but the dirt and grime on Naruto all pointed to signs of a serious scuffle.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto frowned, before brightening. "You're finally here! That jerk Mochida and his goons tried to beat up Sasuke! But!"

The blond puffed up his chest proudly. "I got to 'im before he could even start!"

"That's good," Iruka murmured, only paying half-attention. It looked like Naruto wasn't bleeding, either. That was a relief, but…

"Naruto, where's Sasuke?"

"Huh?" Naruto frowned. "I dunno. Mochida knocked me out before I could kick his butt." He peered past Iruka, seeing Daikoku carrying an unconscious Mochida in his arms and walking their way.

"Oh, Sasuke must've beat up Mochida!" he crowed. "Awesome!"

"Naruto, you _know _fighting outside of _taijutsu _class is forbidden at school," Iruka frowned. "At the very least, you're all going to get detention for this."

"But _they _started it!"

"I don't care who started it!" Iruka growled. "You should have tried to find one of the teachers before fighting! You're lucky none of you were seriously hurt!"

"Your teacher's right, brat," Daikoku said stiffly as he stopped before them. He shifted the load in his arms. "I'm taking this kid to the infirmary. I'll send some others to pick up the rest."

With a nod, Iruka watched Daikoku leave before turning to Naruto. "Do you understand now?"

Naruto just scowled and crossed his arms. "No."

"Naruto!"

"I don't!" the blond cried. "Why should I be nice to people who hate me anyways?"

"That does _not_ give you the right_—"_

"He was gonna hurt my friend!"

"You should have let the teachers handle—"

"An' he called me a demon!"

Iruka faltered.

"Why can't I fight 'em to make 'em stop?" Naruto demanded. "S'not fair! I can't beat up the grown-ups, 'cause they're all bigger than me, but how come I'm not allowed to pick on someone my own size, huh?"

"Naruto…" Iruka sighed. This was going to take some delicate explanation.

And where the heck was Sasuke?

-ooo-

You could nearly see all of Konoha from atop the Hokage Monument, Sasuke mused, sitting on a rock next the scorched remains of a young tree.

The same tree, in fact, that future Naruto had slammed Sasuke into at their final confrontation nine years later—or six days ago, depending on how you looked at it_(1)._ It had given him particular satisfaction to eliminate that unpleasant reminder with a Grand Fireball Technique. Of course, said technique just happened to drain most of his chakra reserves after he sped up the side of the monument following his faceoff with Mochida, so now he was stuck at the top of the cliff, hundreds of feet from the Academy, waiting to recover his reserves. But it was a small price to pay for some peace and quiet, _stalker-ANBU-hiding-in-the-shadows _aside_._

He'd gotten _so _close to just ending the brown-haired brat's life right then and there. A little bit of chakra to enhance the strength of his fingers, and then just a slight squeeze…and that would have ended not only Mochida's life, but his own plans as well. So it was that he stopped at the last moment, venting his frustration in a spike of killer intent before leaving the scene as quickly as possible, just as Naruto was starting to wake up.

It was laughable, really, that he could get so worked up now over the smallest details.

He expelled a breath as he looked into the distance, continuing the train of thoughts that had started since that morning's _taijutsu _lesson.

First things first, he had to get Naruto to graduate the Academy. That meant making the blond brush up on his practical academics as well as his awful chakra control. Naruto had failed the first time around because of a stupid _bunshin _jutsu he overloaded—and somehow, miraculously, passed and learned the Shadow Clone technique in its place within 24 hours. Sasuke's details of the specifics were fuzzy, but he didn't want to leave that bit to chance.

So Naruto had to pass the test the first time, _properly_, and he was going to make sure of that. Somehow.

Next and equally as important, he had to retrain himself. _Taijutsu,_ for sure—he could spar with Naruto for that, and maybe bring in a few of the blond's friends to help. The Akimichi and Nara looked to be possible candidates, and the Inuzuka, while brash and vulgar, could also serve his purposes.

_Genjutsu-_wise, it would be ideal to master his Sharingan soon. _Mentally _speaking, he had everything he needed. Illusion-weaving skills? _Check._ Mangekyou Sharingan-worthy-inducing-trauma? _Check._ Experience from battling other Sharingan-users? _Check._

_Physically _speaking, however…

Flawless chakra control? Not quite there yet. Large chakra reserves? Ha! Give him a break. Though they were larger than they used to be _(and Sasuke suspected this had something to do with the future-self-merges-with-past-body, thus increasing his spiritual energy and by extension his chakra),_ they were still just 'above average' for an Uchiha, and _nothing _next to Naruto or his future self. Spare eyeballs in case Mangekyou Sharingan made him blind again? Unfortunately, Itachi had to be halfway to Akatsuki by now.

He also wanted to look into getting a summoning contract. Not snakes, of course, but his old hawk companions had been loyal allies to him during the war. They shared an affinity with him much like Itachi and his crows. Perhaps, if he had the chance one day, he could try the summoning technique and see if it could take him to their realm. But that would have to wait for a time when he wasn't being watched so closely…

His thoughts stilled after that at the sound of footsteps approaching. Had the teachers found him already?

"Huh."

An unfamiliar voice greeted his ears.

"Hey kiddo, shouldn't you be in class?"

Sasuke surveyed the newcomer—a Jounin by the looks of it, with shaggy brown hair half-covered by a skullcap and a katana hanging from his hip. He, like all the other Konoha nin he'd set eyes on, was vaguely familiar.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked.

The man strolled over to Sasuke's side. "Just a ninja visiting his favorite training spot."

"You train on top of the Hokage Monument." Sasuke deadpanned.

"The view is magnificent. Especially when there's a full moon." The man gave him a gentle smile. "You're that Sasuke kid, huh."

"Hn."

"Not in the mood for class, I take it?"

Sasuke frowned slightly and looked closer at the man. He'd definitely seen him before in the past. The question, was, how long ago?

Shrugging off his silence, the man decided to unsheathe his sword instead, clearing his throat with a cough as he settled into a practice stance.

That did it.

Hearing the cough, and seeing the bags under the man's eyes, Sasuke connected the dots. This was the same Jounin that had been proctoring the Chunnin Exam preliminaries. Years later, when Orochimaru had taught him _kenjutsu(2), _he'd mentioned his name as a rare Konoha example—

"Gekko Hayate." The words flew from his lips before Sasuke stopped himself.

The Jounin paused and straightened up. "Not bad, kid. Where'd you hear that from?"

He looked a lot more relaxed and healthier than the Hayate in his memories. More importantly, Sasuke was talking to one of Konoha's last remaining _kenjutsu _experts. Now this…was interesting. Sasuke got to his feet, picking up a charred branch from the ground. He broke off a piece until it matched the length of Kusanagi, testing its weight in his hands before adopting a stance.

"Will you fight me?"

"I usually pick on people my own size."

In response, Sasuke blurred out of sight before appearing right before the man. He wasn't surprised when the Jounin easily blocked his stick and pushed him back with the flat end of his blade. Jumping back a few steps, Sasuke paused—only to reappear seconds later, behind Hayate. The Jounin spun around effortlessly to parry Sasuke's strike—again with the flat of his blade.

"I'm not here to play games with you, kid."

"Then stop calling me kid."

"I'll do that when you stop acting like one."

Dodge and strike. Hit and block. The next time they met, Hayate easily snapped off a piece of Sasuke's branch and tossed it to the side.

"At least pick a better weapon if you're going to attack me."

Shrugging, Sasuke discarded the broken remains of his makeshift sword and lunged at Hayate again. The man sidestepped to the left, avoiding Sasuke—only to stop abruptly and clutch at his waist. His eyes widened fractionally when he saw the boy holding his scabbard while standing a few feet away. Looking down, he saw that the strings attaching it to his belt had been sliced clean through.

"I think this'll do for a replacement." Sasuke said.

Sighing, Hayate lowered his blade, ignoring the boy's frown as he did so. Despite his sword skills, he was by nature a gentle person, more suited to infiltration and spywork. Fighting for the sheer heck of it didn't suit his style.

"I'm forfeiting. What do you _really _want?"

"To fight."

"Why?" Hayate asked. The boy should be only in his first year at the academy. Trying to take on a Jounin at his age with nothing but physical strength was suicide.

"Strength. Power. Skills." The boy listed them off without missing a beat.

"And how does trying to fight a Jounin at your age help with any of that?"

"Teach me." Sasuke said simply. Truthfully, his skills were probably beyond the man before him, but his body hadn't caught up yet and—Sasuke realized, if he wanted to be proficient in _kenjutsu, _he needed a good cover to explain any improved skills in the future.

The sudden request caused Hayate to stiffen. "Sorry, but I don't take students." Besides Yuugao, but being his girlfriend, she didn't count.

Unperturbed, Sasuke merely shifted into an exact copy of the practice stance that Hayate was in before. He positioned the scabbard in his hands so that it angled towards his right shoulder.

"Leaf Style Stance, first movement, _Silent Breeze Stirs the Still Pond._"

Hayate's eyebrows raised a millimeter.

In response, Sasuke launched himself into a series of fluid strikes that demonstrated the sword technique. Thanks to his new body, it was rather stiffly executed, but he knew that Hayate's expert eyes would pick out his intended line of movement. The Leaf Style was the standard sword technique in Konoha, consisting of 18 separate movements and forming the basis of swordplay for its _kenjutsu _users and ANBU(3). It was one of the earliest things Orochimaru taught him.

"Second movement. _Howling Wind Strikes the Falling Leaves."_

His movements quickened into fast, darting strikes at his invisible opponent, mimicking the action of a fierce gale shaking the boughs of a tree in autumn. By the time he finished the third, Hayate had raised his hand.

"Stop." The Jounin's voice was quiet, carrying with it a note of interested curiosity. "Who taught you?"

"I taught myself," Sasuke lied smoothly. "And I've watched my brother practice plenty of times."

That part, at least, was true—though the old Sasuke had never been able to pick up Itachi's moves.

"How many movements do you know?"

'_All of them. I've even created my own variations,' _Sasuke thought. Out loud, he adopted the persona of a hesitant student.

"Not many…just the ones you've seen, plus a bit of the fourth and fifth…"

Hayate gave him an appraising glance. Then he sighed.

"Your movements are still stiff and awkward, but I'll admit it's impressive that you've gotten this far at all." The sword master frowned a bit before continuing. "You have a bad habit of overreaching yourself, but your movements indicate that you're better used to a shorter sword—a _chokuto, _perhaps, not a katana."

The contrast between movement and action was a little odd, but Hayate blamed it on the boy's inexperience and age. And then he got to the point.

"But despite everything, I still can't teach you."

Sasuke remained impassive as Hayate continued.

"For one thing, you're an academy student. You should be focusing on studying. For another, ninjas aren't authorized to teach non-graduates. And I have a job to do—missions that will take me out of the village. I won't be around all the time."

"I can teach myself," Sasuke cut in, seeing an opening. "I have all the sword scrolls, I just need someone to check on me once in a while." _'And be the scapegoat for a convenient alibi, if it comes to that.'_

"You shouldn't be having access to those scrolls," Hayate frowned.

"I am the current head of the Uchiha Clan," Sasuke said, "So it is perfectly acceptable for me to read them."

"Even so, teaching yourself is dangerous—"

"—which is why I'm asking for your guidance." Sasuke finished smoothly.

Hayate stared at him. Then he shook his head. "Kid, why the rush? We're not at war. You'll have years to master this stuff."

"My entire clan was _murdered_ by my brother a couple of weeks ago," Sasuke muttered dryly. "I need to get stronger."

The man closed his eyes. "A sword wielded in the name of revenge will only lead to regrets, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke shook his head. He knew that—had it forcefully pounded into him, in fact—by death and Naruto. "It's not for revenge."

"Then what? Anger? Pride? Your sense of justice?"

Sasuke paused, looking off into the distance where Konoha laid sprawled before him.

"It's a guarantee."

'_That I'll be stronger than before, so that this time, I won't defeat my brother.'_

'_I'll save him and change the future for both of us.'_

-ooo-

A perplexed Hayate had fallen silent afterwards, but didn't reject Sasuke outright. Instead, he carried the boy back to the Academy after Sasuke revealed he'd depleted his chakra reserves climbing the Hokage Monument. Iruka, of course, naturally blew his top when he heard exactly _where _Sasuke was, and ordered Hayate to take him to the infirmary in a rare disregard of rank. And there, Sasuke conveniently slipped amongst his fellow classmates from lunchtime to escape Iruka's inevitable lecture. Hayate quickly left the academy before he could meet a similar fate. Walking through the streets of Konoha, his scabbard tied to a makeshift knot, he played over their meeting on the Hokage Monument before coming to a sudden, startled stop.

'_How did he cut my strings without a weapon?'_

-ooo-

_(1)'nine years…six days…' – _Sasuke woke up in the hospital in the past six days ago, and died facing Naruto nine years later from his current time. The tree in question is the one Naruto slammed Sasuke against in the prologue. I hope it's not too confusing.

_(2)kenjutsu – _Sword techniques. As in, ways to kill people with long, sharp, pointy objects.

_(3)'Leaf Style Stance' – _Oh yeah. I am so making all this up. Consider them stand-ins for the basic Leaf Style Sword Techniques, since the only canon mention I've read is listing the style name.

**A/N: **(Yeah, this chapter nearly hit 10k words. Sorry about that. Wanted to set up all the background stuff before jumping into the action.)

Meanwhile…the latest Naruto chapters have me banging my head at the Face-Heel Turn turned Heel-Face Turn. I mean, really, Sasuke? You want to be Hokage now?

But luckily for us, _this _Sasuke made the time-jump before any of those events in canon ever happened! (*cough* around 200 chapters later, *cough*) So, as far as he's concerned, Madara is still alive and the one pulling the strings here. Which the guy technically still was, even in death…

And look! He even got some frien...er, minions, in this chapter!

So, if you may be wondering just what the heck's up with Sasuke, here's the rundown:

**1)**he made the jarring leap out of a warzone,

**2)**he's in a stupid, weak body that severely limits his strengths,

**3)**all the people he's known/killed before are now magically back to life,

**4)**Itachi somehow managed to troll him _again _by sending him back in time_, _and

**5)**annoyances like Mochida, ANBU spies, and Nemoto-san keep on sticking their noses into his business while he's trying to plot shenanigans.

_And _he has to train a hyperactive, eight-year-old Naruto. Patience can only go so far without stress relief, eh?

Don't worry, he didn't murder Mochida—just scared him half-to-death with his killing intent.

On another note, **esama **retired from the Internet. Go figure. I'll miss her fics. (Luckily I saved _End of one world _onto my flash drive…)

See you all next year or something, yeah?


End file.
